Fifty years ago, Robert Glaser introduced the concept of criterion-referenced measurement in an article in American Psychologist. Its early proponents predicted that this measurement strategy would revolutionize education. But has it lived up to its promise? W. James Popham explores this question by looking at the history of criterion-referenced…

Discusses advantages and disadvantages of norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests. (JF)

Teachers should be evaluated chiefly by the results they produce. Those results will not be properly detected through the use of norm-referenced achievement tests (NRT) due to the following major deficits of NRT: (1) the descriptions of what is measured by NRT are far too loose; (2) evaluative expectations are unclear; (3) the necessity for NRT to…

Normative data can help those who must interpret test results decide whether a given performance on a criterion-referenced test is satisfactory. (Author/IRT)

Measurement specialists and instructional personnel can join forces to create tests that are valid indicators of important skills and are instructionally attainable targets for teachers. Such tests can revolutionize education. (Author/IRT)

This document, noting that teacher evaluation has now become a terror for teachers due to legislation such as the Stull Act, reviews the major assessment alternatives for teacher competence appraisal. The author discusses the use and merits of ratings, observations, and pupil test performance and finds them all to have fatal defects. He then…

The Detroit (Michigan) High School Proficiency Program emphasizes instruction as well as testing. (Author)

Since mid-1971 the Instructional Objectives Exchange has been engaged in a major effort to develop and disseminate criterion-referenced tests in the fields of reading, mathematics, language arts, and social studies. This paper isolates the chief technical decision-alternatives faced in this project, such as: (1) the optimal number of tests to…

A defense of the use of standards with criterion-referenced testing is made in response to Glass's article (TM 504 031). (JKS)

The author began his education career committed to curriculum, not measurement. After years of using teacher-made and standardized tests as instructional afterthoughts, he recognized the superiority of criterion-referenced testing and the influence of high-stakes testing on instruction. He then became involved with developing such tests on a…

Attention is drawn to the dynamics of criterion-referenced test (CRT) construction in this report. How CRT's are developed at the Instructional Objectives Exchange is described through a series of three steps. The procedures pertain to the construction of "off the shelf" as well as "customized" tests. Step one, isolating the…

Argues that customized criterion-referenced tests produced for use by particular school systems are preferable to "off-the-shelf" criterion-referenced tests or standardized norm-referenced tests, and briefly discusses some of the problems related to developing effective customized criterion-referenced tests. (JG)

Health education researchers have occasionally used measuring tools inappropriately. Test validity and the use of criterion-referenced tests are discussed in view of this need to improve health education research. Also described are handbooks containing measuring devices for the use of health education researchers. (CJ)

The use of the regression equation derived from the Anglo-American sample to predict grades of Mexican-American students resulted in overprediction. An examination of the standardized regression weights revealed a significant difference in the weight given to the Scholastic Aptitude Test Mathematics Score. (Author/BB)

Costly state assessment programs present a need for re-appraisal of their function and resulting impact on state programs and individual educational environments. (RAO)