Transcript Standardized Tests and Test Scores: What does it all mean?
Norm-Referenced Tests and Test Scores: What does it all mean?
Steven M. Koch, Ph.D.
Riley Child Development Center IU School of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics
Presentation Goals
• Recognize areas of assessment • Understand standardized test scores • Learn about the new SSA Test List • Identify resources on specific tests
Questions asked and answered today
• Why do we assess children?
• How do we assess children?
• Why do I need to know about the tests?
• What do I need to know about the tests? • What are all those scores?
– And what do they mean?
• Where can I find information on tests?
Why do we assess children?
• Guide diagnosis • Determine eligibility – SSI – Medicaid waiver – Special education • Monitor progress • Determine treatment approach • Research
How do we assess children?
• Four Pillars of Assessment (Sattler, 2001) – Norm-referenced tests (standardized tests) – Interviews – Observations – Informal assessment procedures • Testing should be fair and culture-free
Norm-referenced tests
• Provide a degree of quantification of the child’s functioning in a given area – Describes the child’s present functioning in reference to peer group – Identifies strengths and weaknesses in area – Provides a baseline for later testing
Interviews
• Structured interviews • Semi-structured interviews • Free flowing interviews
Observations
• Systematic observations / data collection – Frequency counts – Incident logs • Informal observations – Approach towards more difficult tasks – Generate hypotheses
Informal Assessment
• Non-standardized assessment approaches that test an examiner’s hypothesis • Can further identify particular strengths and weaknesses • Examples of informal assessment procedures – Reading passages – Play-based assessment
Fair testing
• Fair testing does not mean the same test is administered to all individuals. • The tests selected for each child should address the questions asked, and the areas of concern.
• The impact of other skills on performance should be minimized
Why do I need to know about all these tests?
Why do I need to know about tests?
• Provides an understanding of the tests which are a part of the claimant’s file • Can provide guidance when requesting a CE – How can the CE obtain the needed information to help with the eligibility determination? – What instruments or areas of assessment would be most helpful as part of the CE?
In what areas do we assess children?
Areas assessed by norm-referenced instruments • Intelligence / cognition • Social / emotional • Adaptive functioning • Speech • Oral language • Academic • Gross & fine motor • Early childhood / global development
Intelligence / Cognition
• Definitions (Sattler, 2001) – Higher-level components, which include abstract reasoning, representation, problem solving, and decision making – Overt behavioral manifestations represented by effective or successful responses – Elementary processes, such as perception, sensation and attention – Executive processes – Memory – Ability to learn
Intelligence / Cognition
• Assessment approaches – Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: 4 – Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale: 3 – Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning: 2 – Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales: 5 – Differential Abilities Scale – Bayley Scales of Infant Development: 3 – Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test
Social / Emotional
• Definitions – Assessment of emotional status, impact of mental disorders on functioning, and social interactions and relationships with others – Often viewed as internalizing and externalizing behaviors.
Social / Emotional
• Internalizing – Anxiousness, depressed mood, somatic complaints • Externalizing – Hyperactivity, verbal aggression, physical aggression • Other areas – Social problems, inattention, thought disturbance
Social / Emotional
• Assessment approaches – Mental Status Examination – Child Behavior Checklist – Behavior Assessment System for Children: 2 – Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale – Roberts Apperception Test for Children: 2 – Children’s Depression Inventory – Functional Behavior Assessment
Adaptive Functioning
• Definitions – The effectiveness with which individuals meet the standards of personal independence and social responsibility expected of individuals of their age and cultural group (Sattler, 2002).
– Multifactorial • Independent functioning, physical development, economic activity, language development, numbers & time, (pre)vocational, self-direction, responsibility, socialization (AAMR)
Adaptive Functioning
• Assessment approaches – Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales: 2 – Scales of Independent Behavior: Revised – Adaptive Behavior Assessment System: 2 – Semi-structured interview
Speech
• Definitions – Involves the production of sounds which form words • Areas of speech disorders – Oral-Motor – Apraxia – Articulation – Stuttering / Dysfluency – Phonological disorder
Speech
• Assessment approaches – Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation: 2 – Khan-Lewis Phonological Analysis: 2 – Photo Articulation Test: 3 – Stuttering Severity Inventory: 3
Oral Language
• The use of words and sentences to convey meaning to others. Oral language examines both the production of messages (expressive) and their receipt (receptive).
• Basic components – Semantics – Syntax – Morphology – Phonology – Pragmatics
Oral Language
• Assessment approaches – Preschool Language Scale: 4 – Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals: 4 – Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale: 3 – Test of Language Development: 3 – Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test: 3 – Rosetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale – Test of Pragmatic Language – Hawaii Early Learning Profile
Academic
• Definitions – The skills children learn through direct intervention or instruction (Sattler, 2001) – Commonly assessed skills include • Reading individual words • Reading comprehension • Mathematics • Spelling • Written expression
Academic
• Assessment approaches – Wechsler Individual Achievement Test: 2 – Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement: 3 – Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement: 2 – Woodcock Reading Mastery Test: 2 – KeyMath: 2 – Diagnostic Achievement Battery: 3
Gross & Fine Motor
• Definitions – Gross motor refers to tasks involving the larger muscles of the body, such as the legs and trunk – Fine motor refers to tasks involving the hands and wrists – Visual-motor refers to the integration of visual and fine motor, such as handwriting – Sensory integration refers to the ability to regulate sensory input (auditory, visual, tactile, kinesthetic)
Gross & Fine Motor
• Assessment approaches – Peabody Developmental Motor Scales: 2 – Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency – Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual-Motor Integration: 5 – Gross Motor Function Test – The Sensory Profile
Early Childhood / Global
• Many instruments assessing youth in early childhood examine multiple areas of development, such as cognitive, speech, language, motor, school readiness, etc.
• Norm-referenced tests are not always appropriate for this age, and more curriculum-based approaches are utilized
Early Childhood / Global
• Assessment approaches – Bayley Scales of Infant Development: 3 – Assessment, Evaluation & Programming System – Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills – Bracken Basic Concept Scale: 2 – Hawaii Early Learning Profile – Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment – Carolina Curriculum for Infants / Toddlers
What scores are provided by tests?
Types of scores
• Raw scores – Number of correct responses for a test – May be useful when measuring progress • Standard and Scaled Scores – Normal distribution of raw scores (established mean and standard deviation) – IQ scores – T-Scores
Normal Distribution Curve
• Also called the bell curve (due to its shape), or the gaussian curve (after Carl Friederich Gauss)
Normal Distribution Curve
• Mean ( ) – average score • Standard deviation ( ) – spread of scores
Normal Distribution Curve
Population Mean = 100 SD = 15 Standard deviation
Normal Distribution Curve
Population Mean = 100 SD = 16 Standard deviation
Normal Distribution Curve
Population Mean = 10 SD = 3 Standard deviation
Normal Distribution Curve
Population Mean = 50 SD = 10 Standard deviation
Types of scores
• Age / grade equivalents – Child’s raw score in relation to average score for a given age – Often used with young children, and individuals with developmental delays – Often interpreted incorrectly
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 == 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 == 4
Age Equivalent
Equal raw scores leads to the same age equivalent score. However, it does NOT mean the same items were correctly answered. The second child answered items that were at a higher developmental level.
Types of scores
• Percentiles – Different than percentages – Provides comparison to peer group – Perform equal to or better than X% of children
Normal Distribution Curve
Population -1 SD = 16%ile +1 SD = 84%ile Standard deviation
Normal Distribution Curve
Population -2 SD = 2%ile +2 SD = 98%ile Standard deviation
When is a score significant?
• Generally, when a score is greater than 2 SD (either above or below the mean, the score is significantly different (e.g., an IQ of 70 or lower).
• The score can be significant if it is 2SD below OR 2SD above the mean (e.g., T-Scores on behavior checklists greater than 2SD above the mean generally indicate an area of concern.
Where can I find information on tests?
Where to get information
• Your medical consultants (e.g., psychologists, SLPs) • Sattler, J.M. (2001). Applications • Sattler, J.M. (2002). and Clinical Applications Publisher. (4 th Assessment of Children: Cognitive Ed.). La Mesa, CA: Sattler Publisher.
Assessment of Children: Behavioral (4 th Ed.). La Mesa, CA: Sattler • Buros Institute – Mental Measurements Yearbook – Tests in Print • University libraries (e.g., IUPUI) • SSA Test List
SSA Test List
• Updated list of tests (earlier list developed ca. 1991) • Recently placed on SSA’s intranet • Provides the following information: – List of tests by area • Comprehensive, screening, subarea, special population – Publisher, publication date – Description / Purpose – Standard administration time – Scores (names, types) – How information is obtained • Is currently being updated
Where to get information
• Test Publishers – Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment – American Guidance Service – Psychological Assessment Resources – Psychological Corporation – Riverside Publishing – Western Psychological Services
For more information….
Steven M. Koch, Ph.D., HSPP Psychologist, Interdisciplinary Training Director Riley Child Development Center IU School of Medicine – Dept. of Pediatrics Riley Hospital for Children 317.274.8167