Criterion-Referenced Testing

Synonyms

Criterion-referenced assessment; Criterion-referenced tests

Definition

Criterion-Referenced Tests

Criterion-referenced tests are designed to assess whether an individual has a particular set of competencies or skills. They aim to answer questions such as “Is this child able to use a spoon for self-feeding or do up shoelaces?” or “Does this individual use sentences of four or more words or know how to subtract two numbers?” The focus of interest is the presence or absence of the criterion behavior and not, as in the case of norm-referenced testing, how the individual functions relative to some normative group.

Criterion-referenced measures may also be used to determine whether the individual meets the requirements for entry in special educational provision or for other decision processes. Psychiatric or other diagnoses are forms of criterion-referenced testing, the presence or absence of signs and symptoms of ASD constituting the criteria. Such uses of criterion-referenced test...