Achievement Test Standardized Achievement History 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The 'Lake Wobegon Effect,' named by educator John Cannell in 1987, refers to which problematic pattern in standardized testing?
- Most states reporting above-average student performance using their own norm-referenced tests (Correct answer)
- States inflating test scores by excluding low-performing students
- Schools teaching identical test content rather than broader curriculum
- Testing companies setting cut scores too low to ensure high pass rates
Correct answer: Most states reporting above-average student performance using their own norm-referenced tests
Cannell found that almost all states using norm-referenced tests reported their students performed above the national average, a statistical impossibility, revealing problems with outdated norms.
Question 2: Computer-adaptive testing (CAT) differs from fixed-form achievement testing primarily in that CAT:
- Adjusts item difficulty based on each student's responses during the test (Correct answer)
- Allows students to take the test on any device at any time
- Uses only open-ended rather than multiple-choice questions
- Scores tests immediately without human scoring
Correct answer: Adjusts item difficulty based on each student's responses during the test
CAT algorithms select each subsequent item based on the student's performance on previous items, improving measurement precision with fewer questions.
Question 3: What role did Edward Thorndike play in the history of standardized achievement testing?
- He pioneered the scientific measurement of educational outcomes and developed early arithmetic and reading tests (Correct answer)
- He invented the multiple-choice item format used in modern standardized tests
- He established the first national testing program for college admissions
- He developed the concept of criterion-referencing for achievement tests
Correct answer: He pioneered the scientific measurement of educational outcomes and developed early arithmetic and reading tests
Thorndike applied psychological measurement principles to education in the early 1900s, creating some of the first standardized tests of specific academic skills.
Question 4: Which term describes the alignment between what is taught in a curriculum and what is measured on an achievement test?
- Curricular validity (Correct answer)
- Predictive validity
- Construct validity
- Concurrent validity
Correct answer: Curricular validity
Curricular validity (also called content validity) refers to how well test content reflects the curriculum students are expected to have been taught.
Question 5: The Common Core State Standards, adopted by most states around 2010, led to the creation of which two major multi-state assessment consortia?
- PARCC and Smarter Balanced (Correct answer)
- NAEP and TIMSS
- SAT School Day and ACT Aspire
- AP and IB assessments
Correct answer: PARCC and Smarter Balanced
PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) and Smarter Balanced were federally funded consortia that developed Common Core-aligned assessments.
Question 6: What is 'standard setting' in the context of achievement test development?
- The process of determining cut scores that define performance levels such as Basic, Proficient, and Advanced (Correct answer)
- Establishing uniform testing conditions across all administration sites
- Setting the number of items required for reliable score measurement
- Defining the norm group used for national score comparisons
Correct answer: The process of determining cut scores that define performance levels such as Basic, Proficient, and Advanced
Standard setting is the policy-informed, data-driven process by which panels of educators determine the score thresholds that define each performance category on a test.
Question 7: The Flynn Effect, documented by James Flynn in the 1980s, has important implications for achievement testing because it shows that:
- Average IQ and cognitive test scores have risen substantially across generations, requiring periodic renorming of tests (Correct answer)
- Minority students consistently outperform majority students when tests are culturally neutral
- High-stakes testing systematically depresses student motivation over time
- Computer-based tests produce higher scores than paper-based versions of the same content
Correct answer: Average IQ and cognitive test scores have risen substantially across generations, requiring periodic renorming of tests
The Flynn Effect—the observed generational rise in IQ scores—means norm-referenced tests must be periodically renormed to prevent score inflation from using outdated norms.
Achievement Test Standardized Achievement History 5
The 'Lake Wobegon Effect,' named by educator John Cannell in 1987, refers to which problematic pattern in standardized testing?