Early Childhood Education Standards and Assessment
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Definition
A testing instrument, typically standardized and norm referenced, used to measure how much a child has learned in relation to educational objectives.
Aptitude test; Norm-referenced test; Readiness test; Standardized test; Test
- The purpose of an achievement test is to measure the outcome of past experiences; aptitude tests look at the potential for future achievement.
- For an achievement test to be valid, whatever is tested needs to have been taught (content validity); for aptitude tests, predictive validity is necessary.
- In practice even the most expert have trouble distinguishing between achievement tests and aptitude tests because both can predict future achievement.
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/a.html
Gage, N.L., & Berliner, D. (1998). Educational psychology. (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
McAfee, O. & Leong, D.J. (2002). Assessing and guiding young children's development and learning. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.