Standardized Testing

Purpose of Standardized Tests

In the assessment process, a clinician has many options for collecting evaluation data at baseline or during reassessment. For example, descriptive measures such as observations, probes, and checklists allow for an in-depth investigation of an individual’s abilities. These techniques can be useful in determining the scope of a set of skills as well as in understanding the potential for growth and improvement. However, these descriptive data must be situated in a context to appreciate what it means in terms of developmental sequences or how a person is able to function compared to a similar cohort. For example, if an 18-month-old child is able to produce 30 discrete words, how would a clinician know if this is developmentally appropriate for this age? If it is not, then what kind of delay can be measured? As a starting point for clinical intervention, what kind of therapy would be appropriate to get the child to a developmentally relevant level?

In the mid-1980s, Rebecca McCauley and Linda Swisher described assessment as the application of numbers to performance; hence, the purpose of standardized assessment is to establish an empirical point of reference in comparison to a population. Tests may be developed to measure a single skill or set of behaviors across a population, based typically on age-related subsets of the population. An individual’s performance is compared to the average performance of the appropriate group. Tests are developed with systematic selection of stimulus items, administered in a standardized procedure, ideally to large groups of participants in a demographically balanced pool divided into normative subsets. Standardized administration means that every patient receives the same stimulus information in the same way, according to the guidelines in the test manual. The results can then be compared to that normative population. Well-constructed tests have samples that are representative of the population demographics, in a balanced distribution across ages.

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