The Pros And Cons Of Norm-Referenced Tests

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Norm-referenced tests are created by professionals, researched and published. They are used to compare a student with others that are similar to them. These comparable students are a norm reference group that is compose of those with similar culture, background, ethnicity, sex and other characteristics. Furthermore, students with disabilities should be included in this sample of student so that it will be a valid comparison for disabled students, too. Norm groups provide standard scores used to determine if a student is average, above average or below average, which allows for determining if a student is at the appropriate level, above or below it. Also, these tests must be shown to be valid or test the areas they are designed to measure. …show more content…

Norm-referenced tests have been researched for many years prior to publishing and actually using them for diagnosing. They provide a norm group which is used for comparison to determine the level of the student. Furthermore, their best use is determining strengths and weaknesses of a student to use when making placement decisions. Whereas, criterion referenced tests can be teacher created or published evaluations, if they are published they are not usually researched to the level of norm-referenced tests. Also, these tests are used to determine how much of the content being taught the students are understanding. So, this assessment is at a more detailed level than norm-referenced testing. These tests can be used for social and behavioral skills as well as academic. The norm-referenced tests are for academic …show more content…

The reason for this is because the cause can be very difficult to determine. For socially constructed disabilities, it is important to determine if the cause is actually a disability or if the child is does not fit into the expected norms of society. In other words, is this a true disability or is it considered a disability due to social norms and standards. Furthermore, do these social constructs cause the exclusion of students from general education classroom or other situation that students would normally be allowed to participate? If a student’s behavior is far away from what his expected, they may be seen as unable to participate in the normal everyday life of a student. The more closely aligned the behavior is to societal norms, the more likely they are to be included in activities. This model is basically saying that societies’ standards may be creating the problem or defining the