| Assessment | Process of collecting, synthesizing, and interpreting information to aid in decision making.
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| Measurement | Process of gathering objective, usually quantitative, information or data about student performance.
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| Evaluation | Process of making a qualitative judgment based on collected measurement data.
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| Validity | The degree to which a test measures what it was intended to measure.
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| Reliability coefficients | Statistical indications of the reliability of tests; range from .00 to 1.00, with zero representing no reliability and 1.00 indicating perfect reliability.
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| Formative assessment | Ongoing student assessment conducted during the course of instruction.
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| Summative assessment | Assessment conducted after instruction is completed; used to make final judgments about a student's learning and to summarize a student's achievement or progress.
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| Standardized tests | Tests that have controlled, consistent administration, scoring, and interpretation procedures. These tests allow a given student's score on a specific test to be compared with scores made by a very large number of similar students who have taken the same test.
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| Test sophistication | The degree to which a student is comfortable and knowledgeable about how to complete tests efficiently.
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| Norm-referenced scores | Raw scores of an individual student compared to those of other students who took the test; indicate how well a student's achievement compares with that of other students in the class, school, district, state, or nation.
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| Criterion-referenced scores | Student raw scores that are compared to a specific preestablished standard or criterion.
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| Raw score | The number of test items or points that a learner obtains on a test. For example 8 of a possible 10.
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| Percentile rank (PR) score | Indicates what percentage of people taking the test scored at or below a given score.
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| Normal curve | Bell-shaped graph depicting the frequency with which particular scores are expected.
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| Stanine scores | A nine-value scale that reports standardized test results; 5 is the midpoint or mean and each standard deviation is 2. Stanine scores are more easily interpreted than z scores and T scores because stanine scores are less precise.
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| Grade equivalent scores | Scores that describe the pupil's level of performance in comparison to pupils in a particular grade.
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| Score band | Range of scores that includes the student's actual score (usually at the middle of the band) and indicates how far above or below that score the student might have performed on a different day.
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| Selected response items | Test questions that require students to select or choose a correct response from a list of possible answers.
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| Created response items | Test questions that require students to develop or create a response in their own words.
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| Restricted response items | Created response test questions that set explicit parameters students are to respond within.
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| Multiple-choice items | Test questions that each consist of a stem which presents a problem or asks a question, followed by several alternative responses. Students are expected to select the alternative that offers the best solution to the problem or best answers the question presented in the stem.
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| Stem | The part of the multiple-choice question that presents a problem or asks a question.
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| Alternative responses | Part of a series of multiple-choice questions that offer possible solutions to the stem.
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| Matching items | Test questions that ask students to match items in one column with related items in another.
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| Completion item | Type of test item that requires students to supply missing words in a statement or a short phrase that answers a question posed in a stem.
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| Test blueprint | Matrix that depicts the relationship between instructional objectives or topics covered, cognitive levels, and items on a test; used as a guide to developing teacher-made tests.
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| Self-referenced grading system | When grades are determined by comparing a student's current performance with past performances. The grade is based upon improvement.
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