A school administrator wants to identify the top 10 percent of the Grade 12 students in order to recommend them for scholarship competition at the highest rated university in Canada. What testing purpose would serve the administrator's purpose?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The school administrator wants to identify the top 10 percent of the Grade 12 students. This purpose requires a comparison of students' scores with each other, not against a specific standard or criterion. Therefore, a norm-referenced test would serve the administrator's purpose. Norm-referenced tests compare an individual's performance to that of a group of peers, and rank their performance relative to each other. This type of test allows for identifying the top-performing students and recommending them for a scholarship competition. Criterion-referenced tests measure an individual's performance against predetermined standards, diagnostic tests identify strengths and weaknesses, and standardized tests are administered and scored in a consistent manner.

A School Administrator Wants to Identify the Top 10 Percent