Problematizing Criterion Referenced Testing in the Indian Context

Problematizing Criterion Referenced Testing in the Indian Context Tulika Prasad Associate Professor (Dept. of English) University of Delhi

Various models of Assessment �Norm-referenced Assessment �Criterion –referenced Assessment �Ipsative Assessment

Norm referenced Assessment �What is Norm referenced Assessment? � Why the need to change to criterion referenced assessment ?

Criterion Referenced Assessment �What do we understand by criterion referenced testing ? �Is it better than norm referenced testing? �How? �While norm-referenced tests ascertains the rank of students, criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) determine ". . . what test takers can do and what they know, not how they compare to others (Anastasi, 1988, p. 102).

Advantages of Criterion Referenced Assessment �Students learn based on their needs. � Students study and practise their own goals and objectives. �Students are expected to achieve realistic goals. �Grades are solely dependent on how students perform against their goals and objectives.

contd. � When students reach their goals, they feel a sense of accomplishment, which encourages them to keep trying their best and this will eventually, lead to better scores. �The whole concept of criterion-referenced instruction means that the teaching moves away from gradelevel content to content based on what the students need.

Norm-Referenced Criterion-Reference Purpose To measure how much a test taker knows compared to another student. To measure how much the test taker knows before and after the instruction is finished. Content Norm-Referenced tests measure broad skill areas taken from a variety of textbooks and syllabi. Criterion-Reference tests measure the skills the test taker has acquired on finishing a curriculum. Score interpretation In Norm-Referenced tests, if a test taker ranks 95%, it implies that he/she has performed better than 95% of the other test takers. In Criterion-Reference, the score determines how much of the curriculum is understood by the test taker.

Reliability of CRA �Defined in terms of consistency in the classification of candidates to performance categories over a number of tests administered to them �Variation in candidate score is not important if candidates are still assigned the same performance category after taking a number of tests

Validity of CRA � The match between the content of the test items and the knowledge or skills that they are intended to measure �The match between the collection of test items and what they measure and the domain of content that the tests are expected to measure

Disadvantages of CRA � Creating tests that are both valid and reliable requires fairly extensive and expensive time and effort �Results cannot be generalized especially if the criteria set for a course is specific only for that course or the criteria has been defined in a very narrow sense.

Overview of CEFR �What is CEFR ? �Issues in implementing CEFR

Assessment in the Indian Context �Issues of of assessment in our (Indian) schools and universities �Impact of this kind of assessment �How to resolve this: alternatives available

Criterion Referenced Testing in the Indian Context �Validity of using CEFR scales in a multilingual context (India). �Challenges of CRA in the Indian context

Discussion of a CRA model �Promises and problems of this model. �Is there hope at the end of the tunnel ?

Ipsative Assessment �What is Ipsative assessment? �Is it a viable alternative? � How? Students are only judged against themselves, therefore they have a better chance of scoring high, which will help improve their self-esteem as well.