Application Exercise: Chapter 15
Learning and Effective Teaching (pages 588-613)
Eggen, Kauchak, & McCrudden (2025)
Part 1: Content Questions
1. State and explain the four primary functions of standardized tests.
1. Assessment and diagnosis of learning – See what students have learned and where
they stand in their comprehension of the information
2. Selection and placement – Can be used to place students in certain classes that align
to their knowledge level on certain subjects
3. Program evaluation and accountability – Can show how much a new program was
able to impact students’ learning
4. Comparisons – Can be used to compare the scores of one school to another to see
how certain factors influence learning
2. Explain the difference between norm referenced standardized tests and criterion referenced
standardized tests.
Norm referenced - Assessment decisions are based on an individual’s performance compared to
the performance of peers. Norm referenced can make for a much more competitive classroom
environment but strive students to do the best they can.
Criterion referenced grading – Assessment decisions are based on a predetermined standard.
Criterion is much more relaxed than norm referenced in terms of competitiveness, but this can
cause some learners to only strive to be at the standard and not above.
3. State and explain the three kinds of evidence of validity for standardized tests.
1. Content validity – A test’s ability to accurately sample the content taught and measure
learner’s understanding of it. This type of validity sees just how well the information was
given to students.
2. Predictive validity – The measure of a test’s ability to gauge future performance. This
type of validity checks how well a test can predict the future performance of students
3. Construct validity – The connection between a test and what it is designed to measure.
This validity is important to see if certain metrics are proven by test scores
4. What are the three types of assessment bias? How do they differ?
1. Content bias – Content bias can be biased towards factors like content that students of
certain races would be more likely to know
2. Bias in testing procedures – If a student is unfamiliar with the test format, like a multiple-
choice test, this can cause a bias against that student
3. Bias in test interpretation and use – Students can believe that the act of testing is biased,
for example students of certain minority groups may think that all tests are biased
against them
Part 2: Application Questions
4. Penn State considers SAT scores when making decisions about admission to the
University. Explain why a university would include SAT scores to determine admission to
study at the university. Reference validity in your response.
Penn state would use SAT scores because it is a standardized test across the country. For
classes and test scores in those classes, teachers could use any number of different factors to
determine grades for students, there is no standard from class-to-class in their grading. SAT
scores work well because they also have a history of content validity, usually students that
score better on the SAT test score better in their college classes.
6. Compute the mean, median, and mode for the following test scores: 10, 6, 4, 4, 6, 4, 1. Please
show your work (how you arrived at your answer). 1, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 10
Mean: 5 – Average of the data set
Median: 4 – middle of the data set
Mode: 4 – appears the most times
Use the following information to answer items 7-11.
Greg, a 5th grader has the following standardized test scores. In math, he has an overall
percentile rank of 45, a stanine of 7 in science, and a grade-equivalent score of 7.5 in reading.
On the problem-solving subtest, which included 20 items, he has a raw score of 12, which placed
him at the 35th percentile.
You are preparing for a conference with Greg’s caregivers. Explain the meaning of each score.
7. Overall percentile rank of 45
This means that his score is as high or higher than 45% of the class
8. Stanine of 7 in science
This means that on a 9-point scale he is a 7 in science, which means he is above average in
science
9. Grade-equivalent score of 7.5 in reading
This means that he is at the level of a 7th grader in their 5th month. This means that as a 5th grader,
he is at an advanced level.
10. Problem-solving subtest raw score of 12 out of 20 items, which placed him at the 35th
percentile
This means that he scored a 60% on the problem-solving subtest, which places him as high or
higher than 35% of the class
11. Provide an overall evaluation of Greg’s performance across the different subject areas.
This shows that Greg is a bit lower than average in problem solving, above average in reading,
above average in science, which end up as him being about average as a student.
