Assessment
What this domain tests
Assessment items ask you to choose the right instrument for a purpose and to interpret results correctly. Know the difference between formative (during learning, feedback-oriented) and summative (end-of-unit, judgment-oriented) assessment, and between norm-referenced and criterion-referenced interpretation. Validity (does it measure what it claims?) and reliability (does it produce consistent results?) anchor many items; remember that a test can be reliable without being valid, but not valid without being reliable.
Concepts to hold firmly
Understand table of specifications/blueprints, item types (selected-response vs. constructed-response), and the cognitive demand of questions (recall vs. application vs. analysis). Know standard error of measurement and what a confidence band means. Understand norm-referenced scores-percentile rank, stanine, grade equivalent-and their limits; grade equivalents are especially prone to misinterpretation. Know the purposes of accommodations (change access, not expectations) versus modifications (change expectations).
Traps
Beware choices that treat a percentile rank as percent correct. Beware claims that a high-stakes test "proves" a teacher is effective. Watch for confusion between reliability and validity, and for the suggestion that accommodations give unfair advantage-appropriate accommodations level the field without altering the construct.
Rule of thumb
Name the decision the data must inform, then pick the instrument whose evidence best supports that decision. Feedback should be specific, timely, and tied to criteria.
Worked example: A student scores at the 70th percentile. That means the student performed as well as or better than 70 percent of the norm group-not that 70 percent of items were correct.