Norm-Referenced Measures (NRM)

Most appropriate when one wishes to make comparisons across large numbers of students or important decisions regarding student placement and advancement. Norm-referenced measures are designed to compare students (i.e., disperse average student scores along a bell curve, with some students performing very well, most performing average, and a few performing poorly).

Criterion-Referenced Measures (CRM)

Most appropriate for quickly assessing what concepts and skills students have learned from a segment of instruction. Criterion-referenced assessments measure how well a student performs against an objective or criterion rather than another student. Criterion-referenced classrooms are mastery-oriented, informing all students of the expected standard and teaching them to succeed on related outcome measures. The "bell curve" in this case is skewed heavily to the right, as all students are expected to succeed. Criterion-referenced assessments help to eliminate competition and may improve cooperation.
  • determine individual performance in comparison to others; standardized, comparisons among people

  • items produce great variance in scores, perhaps with less than 50% scoring correctly

  • item analysis used to select those items that were answered correctly by those scoring high on a test but incorrectly by those scoring low on a test (a positively discriminating item)

  • it is inappropriate to use NRMs to determine the effectiveness of educational programs and to provide diagnostic information for individual students; items cover a broad range of content and often represent a mismatch between what is taught locally and what is taught in other states
  • determine individual performance in comparison to some standard or criterion

  • items based on standards given to students (i.e., objectives); most students should answer correctly

  • discrimination is irrelevant and should not take place; discrimination may point to errors in instruction

A Sample NRM: The Graduate Record Exam (GRE)

The GRE is taken by college students wishing to enter graduate schools. The test items are included in an actual exam after they are analyzed and determined to discriminate appropriately. The following quote describes the "test development process" at GRE:

The General Test is composed of questions formulated by specialists in various fields. New questions are pretested in actual tests under standard testing conditions. Questions appearing in a test for the first time are analyzed for usefulness and potential weaknesses; they are not used in computing scores. Questions that perform satisfactorily become part of a pool from which new editions of the General Test are assembled at a future date.

The SAT and ACT are other examples of norm-referenced measures.

A Sample CRM: The Performance Assessment

Most appropriate for determining the progress of smaller numbers of students on higher-order learning tasks. For performance assessments, students are tasked with creating or presenting a unique product or solution (paper, design, oral presentation, hands-on experiment). They are given standards or expected criteria prior to their performance. The standards are used to create rubrics or scales for use by instructors or raters in assessing student products or presentations.

Classroom quizzes and exams that are based on course objectives are other examples of criterion-references measures. Quizzes and exams can be norm-referenced, however, if the instructor purposely selects items that discriminate (see item analysis).