Norm-referenced tests are best described as

• A. Standardized assessments intended to compare a student's performance with the performance of others
• B. Assessments designed to measure mastery of predetermined criteria
• C. Assessments administered during instruction to guide teaching
• D. Assessments used to compute item difficulty indices

Answer: (A)

Norm-referenced tests compare an individual student’s performance to that of a larger group using standardized procedures. This layout allows scores to reflect where a student stands relative to peers, often shown as percentiles or standard scores. The emphasis is on ranking and relative placement within the norm group, not on whether a student has mastered specific skills.

This differs from criterion-referenced assessments, which judge whether particular skills or criteria have been met, regardless of how others perform. Norm-referenced tests aren’t usually used to guide daily instruction or to determine mastery of content. They are more about situating a student within a broader performance distribution. While test construction involves analyzing item difficulty, that aspect supports the test's development rather than defining its primary purpose.