Norm Referenced Tests (NRT's) are tests administered to compare a student's score against the scores of a group of others who have already taken the same exam. They are designed to compare students' scores and are NOT based on standards. Examples include the ACT and the SAT.

The following information can also be found on the National Center for Fair and Open Testing website.

http://www.fairtest.org/norm-referenced-achievement-tests

• To make comparing easier, testmakers create exams in which the results end up looking at like a bell-shaped curve (see below), and the scores are usually reported as percentile ranks.

• When creating an NRT, it is important to choose questions that categorize students along the curve than it is to make sure that the content covered by the test is acceptable. Remember, the test is not based on standards.

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• The tests can be subjective. Some questions might favor one type of student than others for reasons that have nothing to do with the subject area being tested. Again, no standards involved. 

• Questions on an NRT are only samples of the entire subject area. There are thousands of questions that could be asked, but these tests may have only a handful of questions. The final score is only an estimate of how well the student would do if he or she could be asked all the possible questions within the subject.

• Let's look at some examples of NRT's.....

• ACT's: A college achievement test taken by high school students. The assessment measures educational development and their ability to complete college-level work. The test covers four sample subject areas: English, Math, Reading, and Science.

• SAT's: Like the ACT's, the SAT's are taken by high school students and used towards college achievement. The assessment measures literacy, writing, and mathematical skills and includes only a sample of questions from the subject areas.

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Criterion Referenced Tests (CRT's) are tests that assess specific skills students learn about in class. They are measurements of student performance against a fixed set of predetermined criteria or learning standards.

Criterion-referenced tests may include multiple-choice questions, true-false questions, short-essay questions, or a combination of question types. Scores on these tests are usually expressed as a percentage.

Examples include Advanced Placement exams, the PSSA's, and the Keystone's.

• AP Exams: No matter what class it is for, AP exams assess students in the subject area of the class being taken. For example, an AP Chemsitry test will assess student knowledge in the subject of chemistry. An AP Music Theory test will assess student knowledge in the subject of music theory, and so on.

• PSSA's: An assessment given in public schools in Pennsylvania. The students assessed are in grades 3-8. The test covers English language art and math. A grade of 'Proficient' or 'Advanced' is needed to pass. The questions are based on Common Core Standards.

• Keystone's: This assessment addresses multiple subject areas. Such include Algebra, Geometry, Reading, English Composition, Biology, Chemistry, U.S. History, World History, and Civics. The exams were created to help school districts meet state standards through their high school students.

Below, you can view my comprehensive analyais of Greater Latrobe Senior High Schools's NRT & CRT performance.

After looking at the performance scores of Greater Latrobe Senior High School, it is determined that they rank within the average percentile, scoring an 87.3 out of 100. Comparing today’s score with past scores, it seems as if they have gone up, but only slightly. If anything, the school has hit a plateau in their test scores. The school offers test prep sessions, however they are only available twice a year. Perhaps offering them more throughout the school year and even during the summer would help the scores increase.

            While the percentage of economically disadvantaged students falls at a 25%, the scores were lower, but not by an overwhelming amount. Perhaps offering some extra tutoring before or after school and providing them with take home materials could help raise their scores with the rest of the students. I did notice that the 10% of students who fell under the special education category could use more improvement. Throughout the years, the scores seem to stay the same, with the below basic category having the highest percentage. Although these students have IEPs, that is no excuse for the school district and their teachers not to help them. Providing these students with adapted materials for test prep and working on these academic skills in their special education classes could help improve their scores.

            As for the separate reading and math categories, both fall within the average point range. However, these scores have plateaued and are not improving. As a visual learner myself, I believe that creating a visual graph such as a bell curve could help the administration with improving these scores. Creating one for the 2011-2012 school year up until this school year can show them that there has been no improvement. By implementing extra test prep sessions and materials, the scores may go up, thus causing the bell curve to show the improvement. Once administrators see this information, they may be more inclined to implement more opportunities for test prep within the district.

            As the school district provides and creates more test prep opportunities, it is important for them to realize and plan for creating separate ones for the Criterion Referenced Tests and Norm Referenced Tests. The CRT preparations should be heavily criteria based, while the NRT preps should showcase questions the students would see on an assessment such as the SATs or ACTs. Providing the differences for the students would most likely allow them for higher achievement since they can see similar questions per test.