Freda Corbell, Ph.D.
Director of Assessment, Accountability & Research

A B C D E F G h I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary. If the term you are looking for starts with a digit or symbol, choose the '#' link.

A

ABILITY (APTITUDE) TEST:

A test not closely linked to a specific curriculum, that is used to predict a student's future performance. Examples are CogAT and Otis- Lennon School Ability Test among others.

ACHIEVEMENT TEST:

A test that measures prior knowledge usually linked to a specific subject or course. An example is STANFORD-10.

B

Benchmark:

 Local assessment using TAKS Released tests.

C

COMPUTER-ADAPTIVE TESTING:

Computerized testing that tailors the difficulty of the test to the individual test taker.

CRITERION-REFERENCED:

A score that compares a student's performance to specific standards. The TAKS tests are criterion-referenced tests.

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I

INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ):

A ratio between mental age and chronological age. An IQ of 100 is considered an "average" IQ.

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M

Measure of Academic Progress (MAP):

Local curriculum-based assessments administered in Grades 2-8 to assess mathematics and science.

MATRIX:

A rectangular array of numbers or symbols based on a variety of indicators. When the indicators are used in combination, new information is yielded. (Plural: Matrices)

MEAN:

An average score which is found by adding all scores and dividing the sum by the number of cases.

MEDIAN:

The middlemost score when all scores have been arranged in order of size. The median is the point that bisects the distribution, half the cases falling above it and half below.

MODE:

The most frequent score in the number of cases.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTION:

A question in which a student selects an answer from a list of answers.

N

NORM GROUP:

The group used as a point of comparison for a test.

NORM-REFERENCED:

A score that compares a student's performance to that of people in a norm group. Both abilities tests and achievement tests may be norm-referenced.

NORMAL CURVE:

Sometimes referred to as a bell curve, the normal curve is a mathematically determined distribution of scores represented on a graph. The curve has important mathematical properties and provides the basis for many kinds of statistical analyses. A normal curve indicates the largest number of cases cluster in the center of the range and that the number drops off gradually in both directions as the extremes are approached. In a normal curve, the Mean, Median, and Mode coincide. The "meaning" of a normal distribution or normal curve is that most subjects have scores in the middle of the distribution, some few have low and very low scores, and some few have high and very high scores.

NORMAL CURVE EQUIVALENT (NCE):

A score used to compare performance on one test with another (more useful for educators and statisticians than for parents). The Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) relates a student's Percentile Rank to the normal (bell-shaped) curve. In other words, it describes what a student's Percentile Rank would have been had the distribution of test scores been a normal distribution. The NCE can also be used to assess achievement progress over time and is commonly used in program evaluation.

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OBJECTIVE MASTERY:

Objective Mastery refers to the number of items that must be answered correctly to demonstrate competency in the skills targeted by the objective.

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PERCENTILE RANK (PR):

A comparison of one student's score with the scores of people in the norm group. Further, a percentile rank is not the same as a grade of a certain percent correct on a classroom test; sometimes referred to as a national percentile. When a student scores at the 50th percentile, it is an indication of being on grade-level. Percentiles above 50 represent above-average performance. (See Texas Percentile Rank.)

PERCENTILE RANGE:

An indication of how a student's percentile rank might differ given different editions of a test.

PORTFOLIOS:

Collections of students' work over a period of time. Portfolio assessment is one method of measuring a student's performance.

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R

RAW SCORE (RS):

The raw score is the number of items answered correctly on a subject area test. By itself, the raw score has limited utility as it can only be interpreted in reference to the total number of items on a subject area test, and raw scores should not be compared across administrations.

RELIABILITY:

An indication of how consistent test scores will be, given different testing conditions or editions of a test.

S

SCALE SCORE (SS):

A score used to keep the meaning of scores consistent. One test may use a scale score range of 100-200, another 600-699 range.

STANDARD DEVIATION:

A standard deviation shows how far each score deviates above or below the Mean. The percentage of cases that fall between the Mean and +1 standard deviation in a normal curve is 34.13. Because the curve is symmetrical, 34.12 percent of the cases are likewise found between the Mean and -1 standard deviation, so that between +1 and -1 on both sides of the Mean there are 68.26 percent of the cases.

STANDARD ERROR OF MEASUREMENT (SEM):

A standard error of measurement is a measure of chance fluctuation in scores. A single score is not necessarily an absolute measurement, rather a score within a range of possible scores if the student were to take a similar test. SEM's are statistically generated information available from the publisher of a given test.

STANDARDIZED TEST:

A test that is administered and scored under the same conditions for all students. Modifications that differ from how the test was standardized (such as reading a portion of the test aloud or extending the time) cause scores to be invalid.

STANINE SCORE (S):

A score from a nine-point scale used in standardized tests. A stanine score of 1, 2, or 3 represents below-average performance; 4, 5, or 6 average performance; and 7, 8, or 9 above-average performance.

T

TEXAS LEARNING INDEX (TLI):

The Texas Learning Index (TLI) perstains only to the TAAS test and ranges from approximately 0 to 110 with the leftmost digit representing the grade tested (e.g., 3-65 for Grade 3, X-83 for Exit Level). The Minimum Expectations score of 70 represents the same amount of achievement at each grade tested and at each administration. Thus, the TLI score can be used to assess learning progress within a subject area across grades. For example, if a student scored a TLI of 3-68 at Grade 3 in reading, the student did not meet Minimum Expectations. If the same student achieved a TLI of 4-71 at Grade 4 in reading, the student showed more than one year's learning for one year's instruction (one year's progress plus value added) and met Minimum Expectations. In addition, the achievement level required to score a 70 on the TLI at all grades is roughly equivalent to the standard set at the Exit Level. Thus, an analysis of a student's score can reveal whether the student is in line to meet the Exit Level standard if current progress continues. The TLI is provided for TAAS Reading and TAAS Math.

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V

VALIDITY:

The extent to which test scores actually reflect what they were meant to measure.

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