Validating State-Mandated Criterion-Referenced Achievement Tests With Norm-Referenced Test Results for Elementary and Secondary Students

The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) achievement test is a criterion-referenced test mandated as part of a statewide accountability law. Standards have been empirically determined for selected grade levels. Criterion-referenced tests, however, are not evaluated solely on the basis of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of experimental education 1992, Vol.60 (2), p.141-150
Main Authors: Oescher, Jeffrey, Kirby, Peggy C., Paradise, Louis V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Achievement tests
Curricula
Educational research
Educational sciences
Educational standards
Grade 10
Grade 3
Job performance standards
Mathematics
Mathematics education
Measurement, Statistics, and Research Design
Methodology
Pass fail grading
Tests
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Summary:The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) achievement test is a criterion-referenced test mandated as part of a statewide accountability law. Standards have been empirically determined for selected grade levels. Criterion-referenced tests, however, are not evaluated solely on the basis of their psychometric properties; results also must be interpretable by and credible to laypersons. In this study, methods for validating criterion-referenced test results through correlation with an accessible and easily understood norm-referenced benchmark were explored. LEAP scores and pass/fail decisions for 21,000 Grade 3 students and 8,000 Grade 10 students were compared with scores on the California Achievement Test (CAT). Correlational analyses indicated moderately strong relationships between criterion-referenced and norm-referenced subtests. LEAP pass/fail decisions based on CAT scores had error rates in the 12% to 20% range. Procedures for using norm-referenced tests to validate criterion-referenced tests are discussed.
ISSN:0022-0973
1940-0683
DOI:10.1080/00220973.1991.10806586