Which term describes judging a student's performance according to predefined standards or criteria rather than relative to other students?

Which term describes judging a student's performance according to predefined standards or criteria rather than relative to other students?

• A. Criterion-Referenced
• B. Meaningfulness
• C. Norm-Referenced
• D. Content Quality

Answer: (A)

Judging a student’s performance against predefined standards describes criterion-referenced assessment. In this approach, you determine whether the student has demonstrated mastery of specific skills or knowledge outlined in learning objectives. Scores are tied to meeting those criteria, often using rubrics or fixed cut scores, rather than ranking students against each other. This means a student’s result reflects how well they achieved the stated goals, not how they compare to peers. The other options don’t fit: norm-referenced compares performance to a group, while meaningfulness and content quality refer to different qualities of tasks or assessments rather than how results are interpreted against standards.

Judging a student’s performance against predefined standards describes criterion-referenced assessment. In this approach, you determine whether the student has demonstrated mastery of specific skills or knowledge outlined in learning objectives. Scores are tied to meeting those criteria, often using rubrics or fixed cut scores, rather than ranking students against each other. This means a student’s result reflects how well they achieved the stated goals, not how they compare to peers. The other options don’t fit: norm-referenced compares performance to a group, while meaningfulness and content quality refer to different qualities of tasks or assessments rather than how results are interpreted against standards.