Norm-referenced tests are assessments that compare individual student scores to the scores of other students in a common age group who have already completed the test. Norm-referenced tests usually report student scores as a percentile ranking, rather than a percentage. For example, a student scoring in the 99th percentile scored higher than 99 percent of other students in his age group who took the same test. This does not mean that he got 99 percent of the problems correct on the assessment. The goal of norm-referenced tests is to rank and sort students, rather than measure a mastery of skills.
Standardized tests such as the SAT, whose goal is to determine the likelihood of a student's success rate in college, are examples of norm-referenced tests. Other commercially produced assessments that are norm-referenced include the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and the California Achievement Test (CAT). IQ tests and school readiness assessments are also norm-referenced tests.
A criterion-referenced test is used to measure a student's mastery of a predetermined criteria or standard. Criterion-referenced tests are typically used to determine a person's eligibility for licensure, certification or job placement, although criterion-referenced tests recently have gained more notoriety for their use in determining Adequate Yearly Progress as part of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. Criterion-referenced tests report student scores on a "pass, fail" basis, based on a cut-off score determined by the administrator.
A majority of the state standardized tests used for No Child Left Behind are criterion-referenced tests. For example, in Washington state, students complete the Measurement of Student Progress (MSP). To make adequate progress on the MSP, students must score a minimum of 400 in math, reading, writing and science. The in-class assessments that teachers give are criterion-referenced tests because all students in the class take the same test and are expected to demonstrate a certain level of mastery of learned skills.