A GLOSSARY OF TESTING and Testing Lingo @ Spicewood Elementary

ACHIEVEMENT TEST:  A test to measure a person's knowledge, skills 
and understanding in a given subject taught in school.

AFFECTIVE TEST:  Measurement of feelings and emotions to find out 
how a student feels about school, his/herself and his/her 
relationships with others.

APTITUDE TEST: A test that attempts to predict how well students 
will do in learning new subject matter in the future.

CRITERION-REFERENCED TEST: A test for which the performance of the 
test taker is compared with a fixed standard or criterion. The 
primary purpose is to determine if the test taker has mastered a 
particular unit sufficiently to proceed to the next unit.

DIAGNOSTIC TEST:  Measurement that provides specific information, 
such as whether a student can multiply or the extent of his/her word 
comprehension skills.  These help determine a pupil's weaknesses and 
strengths so that an individual learning program can be planned.

GRADE EQUIVALENT SCORE:  A score that shows the grade level at which 
a student scored on a test.  For example, a student who has a grade 
equivalent score of 3.5 means that he or she is reading as well as 
the average student in the nation who has been in the third grade 
for five months.

IQ:  Ratio intelligence quotient--a measure for expressing the level 
of mental development in relation to a student's age; obtained by 
dividing the mental age (as measured by a general intelligence test) 
by the student's age and multiplying by 100.

NORM-REFERENCED TEST: A test for which the results of the test taker 
are compared with the performance of others (norming population) who 
have taken the test.
NORMS:  Test norms give information about the performance of a 
particular test and thereby provide a set of standards against which 
individual student performance can be measured.

PERCENTILE RANK SCORE:  Where a person placed on a test when 
compared to all others who took the same test.  Percentiles start at 
1 and go to 99, so a percentile rank score of 70 means that person 
scored higher than 69% of all others who took the test, or scored 
lower than 29%.

RAW SCORE:  The number of correct answers a student gets on a test.

STANDARDIZED TEST:  Tests prepared and published by people outside 
the school district and taken by students in districts across the 
nation for comparison of the students in different parts of the 
country.

STATE ACHIEVEMENT TEST:  Standardized achievement tests taken by all 
students going to school in a state; helps the state make 
educational decisions by comparing groups of test scores.

TEACHER-MADE TEST:  A test a teacher makes up for his or her classes 
to find out if students are learning what is being taught, like 
short quizzes, spelling tests, etc. (This is the most common kind of 
test used in the classroom.)