A big part of my confusion comes from the use of norm-referenced tests. For my middle school student, the NRTs used were the Terra Nova test in mathematics and the Stanford 10 reading test.

Other well-known tests, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), Stanford 9 (SAT-9), and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), are norm-referenced, meaning they measure how well a student knows the ...

David J. Hoff was an associate editor for Education Week. A version of this article appeared in the November 08, 2000 edition of Education Week as States Question National Reading-Test Scores ...

Texas children’s performance on an annual reading test was basically flat from 2012 to 2021, even as the state spent billions of additional dollars on K-12 education. I recently did a peer ...

You make some good points about the distinction between norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests, but I disagree with your characterization of the latter. The problem with norm ...