Which type of assessment ranks students by comparing them to a reference group?

Which type of assessment ranks students by comparing them to a reference group?

• A. Self-Referenced
• B. Norm-Referenced
• C. Meaningfulness
• D. Content Quality

Answer: (B)

This item centers on how assessment results are interpreted when scores are compared to a reference group. A norm-referenced assessment ranks students by their performance relative to peers, producing standings like percentile ranks that show where a student fits in the distribution of the group. This is different from a self-referenced approach, which looks at how a student has improved or performed over their own previous efforts rather than how they compare to others. And terms like Meaningfulness or Content Quality describe whether the test results are interpretable or whether the test itself is well-constructed, not how scores are used to rank students in relation to a reference group.

This item centers on how assessment results are interpreted when scores are compared to a reference group. A norm-referenced assessment ranks students by their performance relative to peers, producing standings like percentile ranks that show where a student fits in the distribution of the group.

This is different from a self-referenced approach, which looks at how a student has improved or performed over their own previous efforts rather than how they compare to others. And terms like Meaningfulness or Content Quality describe whether the test results are interpretable or whether the test itself is well-constructed, not how scores are used to rank students in relation to a reference group.