The Words We Use: A Glossary of Terms for
Early Childhood Education Standards and Assessment
Definition
One or more questions, problems, and/or tasks designed to estimate a child's knowledge, understanding, ability, skill and/or attitudes in a consistent fashion across individuals. Information from a test or tests contributes to judgments made as a part of an assessment process.
Related Terms (Not Synonyms)
Achievement test; Aptitude test; Assessment; Criterion-referenced test; Curriculum-based test; Diagnostic test; Evaluation; High-stakes test; Norm-referenced test; Placement test; Readiness test; Screening test (tool, instrument); Standardized test; Teacher-made test;Testing for accountability; Test instrument
Explanatory Comments
- Most sources presume a shared understanding of the meaning of the term test and do not provide a definition.
- Aversion to the use of the term test, especially in settings serving young children, has sometimes led to the use of the term assessment to mean test. However, the term test is not synonymous with the broader term assessment because the term assessment encompasses multiple measures and sources of data, one of which could be a test.
- Children younger than primary age have not attained the developmental capacity to understand the purposes of formal testing.
Web Sources
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (2002). A lexicon of learning: What educators mean when they say… Retrieved May 19, 2003, from http://www.ascd.org/educationnews/lexicon/lexiconoflearning.html
Department of Defense Education Activity. DODEA glossary of terms. Retrieved May 19, 2003, from http://www.odedodea.edu/instruction/curriculum/glossary.htm
National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). Assessment glossary. Retrieved May 19, 2003, from http://www.cse.ucla.edu/CRESST/pages/glossary.htm
State Preschool Accountability Research Collaborative. SPARC glossary. Author. Retrieved May 19, 2003, from http://www.ihdi.uky.edu/Sparc/survey/sparcglossary.htm
UNM Center for Family and Community Partnerships. Glossary of assessment terminology. Retrieved May 19, 2003, from http://www.newassessment.org/public/communication/Terms/default.cfm
Other Resources
Gage, N.L., & Berliner, D. (1998). Educational psychology. (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Gredler, G.R. Early childhood screening for developmental and educational problems. In B.A. Bracken, (Ed.). (2000). The psychoeducational assessment of preschool children. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2000). Educational research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
McAfee, O. & Leong, D.J. (2002), Assessing and guiding young children's development and learning. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
McDevitt, T.M., & Ormrod, J.E. (2002). Child development and education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Nuttall, E.V., Romero, I., & Kalesnik, J. (Eds.) (1999). Assessing and screening preschoolers: Psychological and educational dimensions. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Popham, W.J. (1999). Classroom assessment: What teachers need to know (2nd Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Slavin, R. E. (2000). Educational psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
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