Standardized testing
Standardized testing uses assessments administered and scored under consistent procedures so results can be compared across people or groups.
Test standardization: The process of fixing consistent procedures for administering, scoring, and interpreting an assessment. Uniform instructions and scoring rules are the foundation of comparable test results.
High-stakes testing: Testing whose results carry significant consequences for individuals, schools, or institutions. Consequences can change how schools teach and how students approach assessments.
Performance-based assessment: An assessment in which learners demonstrate skills by completing tasks or producing work. It can sample applied performance that selected-response standardized tests may not capture.
Test bias: Systematic distortion in test scores or interpretations associated with irrelevant characteristics or group membership. A common format does not prevent items from disadvantaging particular groups.
Psychometrics: The study of measuring psychological traits, abilities, and other latent characteristics. It supplies methods for evaluating what standardized test scores measure.
College admissions in the United States: The process by which U.S. colleges select applicants for admission. Admissions tests have served as one standardized measure among application materials.
Portfolio assessment: Evaluation of a curated collection of a learner's work over time. A portfolio shows development and varied work rather than a single testing occasion.
Differential item functioning: A statistical pattern in which people from different groups with equal measured ability have different probabilities of answering an item correctly. Item-level analysis can identify questions that behave differently across groups.
Reliability (psychometrics): The consistency of measurements across repetitions, items, raters, or testing conditions. Consistent results are needed before scores can support comparisons.
Scholastic Aptitude Test: A U.S. college admissions examination assessing skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. The SAT is a prominent example of a standardized test used in admissions.