NRT vs CRT

In education, learning is a very important process. This process is having some objectives or goals to achieve. The teacher and the studenr are  important factors of the teaching learning process. At the end of teaching learning process, it is necessary to evaluate the knowledge, skill, aptitude and educational objectives whether they are fulfilled or not. For this purpose different kinds of tests have been adopted by researchers and teachers. Various experiments are being tried for the improvement of education. There are two tests or assesment that can be used for the students. The tests are called as Criterion Referenced Test and Norm Referenced Test. In this essay the writer will tell about the definition of CRT, the definition of NRT, the history of NRT and CRT, some critics in CRT and NRT, the advantages of CRT and NRT, and its implementation in Indonesia and America.                                                                                                                                                                     The first thing is about the defintion of CRT. The word "criterion" in CRT has been referred in two ways . First, criterion refers to the material being taught in the course. CRT would assess the particular learning points of a particular course or program. Second, criterion is the standard of performance that is used to decide what is being expected for passing the test or course. Here, CRT would be used to assess whether students pass or fail at a certain criterion level . CRT is a test that measures a test taker‘s performance according to a particular standard or criterion that has been agreed. The test taker must reach this level of performance to pass the test, and a test taker‘s score is interpreted with reference to the criterion score, rather than to the scores of other test takers (Richard & Schmidt 2002).                                                                                                                                                   After, the writer tells about the definition of CRT,the writer will explain the definition of NRT. NRT is a test that measures how the performance of a certain test taker or group of test takers compares with the performance of another test taker or group of test takers whose scores are given as the norm. A test taker‘s score will be interpreted with the scores of other test takers or groups of test takers (Richard & Schmidt 2002). Hence, NRT is an approach of evaluation through which a learner‘s score is compared to other students in the classroom                                                                              After the writer has aready given the brief definition of CRT and NRT, the writer intends to give the explanation about the history of NRT and CRT. Actually the NRT test comes before the CRT. At that time norm-referenced tests were seen as limited source that provides a sequence of information needed by the teachers. The NRT is considered unfair as well. Until one day,the term criterion-referenced was first introduced in 1962 by Glaser and Klaus (1962). Glaser and Klaus published an article entitled  ‘American Psychologist’ (Glaser 1963). He wrote the first paper about CRT  since the scope and direction of educational testing has been changed dramatically. In 1970, Hambleton, Swan’rathan, Algina and Coulson (1978) calculated that more than 600 papers  about  CRT have been  written. The papers  had been written in the form of, journals, monographs, and books. During 1974 a monograph was also published. The monograph talked about the technical problems in criterion-referenced measurement which was edited by Chester W. Harris, Marvin C. Alkin, and W. James Popham.                                                                                                                By the 1970’s , some experts edited  monograph  on  criterion-based  measurement.  For example a monograph edited by Bunda  and  Sanders  (1979),  a  monograph  on  criterion-referenced  testing  by Brown(1980)  edited  volumes  by  Jaeger  and  Tittle  (1980)  ,  and  a  monograph which was written im  1980  entitled  ‘Applied Psychological  Measurement’  examining  the  criterion-referenced  testing  technology  which  was  edited  by  Ronand  K.Hambleton.                                                  After the writer tells about the history of NRT and CRT, the writer will show several arguments which reflects a criticism made by some experts.The kinds of arguments typically made by the critics. The criticisms are about some problems that caused by the existence of NRT and CRT. The first criticisim was deliverd by Huitt in 1996. He said NRT scores are often misused in schools when making critical educational decisions, such as grade promotion, which can have a harmful consequences for some students. Since NRT form is presented in Multiple-choice test, the students do not get used to present their critical thinking and analysis (Corbet & Wilson, 1991). If the teaher overused the NRT  asessment, it can result to inadvertent discrimination against minority groups and low-income student populations, both of which tend to face more educational obstacles than non-minority students and higher-income households (Bond 1996). The test in NRT is also considered biased by the experts because those questions are eliminated which low scorers might get right (Huitt ,1996). NRT has to be finished in a time limit which may favor or disfavor an individual student.                                                                                                                                                                After the writer shows some criticism in NRT, the writer will show the criticisim in CRT as well. Although most of the experts views that  CRT has many advantages, it does have some lacks. The kinds of arguments typically made by the critics of NRT, Huitt . He views that CRT does not allow for comparing the performance of students in a particular location with national norms. For example, a school would be unable to compare 5th grade achievement levels in a district                                                                                                                                                                  In the next paragraph, the writer will show some advantages and disadvantages of CRT and NRT. As we have known the experts claims that CRT brings  numerous advantages. CRT is a good  tool to measure specific skills, objectives or domain (Bond, 1996). It gives direction of how well students are learning. It is good to determine learning progress if students have learning gaps or academic difficulity that need to be solved (Bond 1996). The teachers can use the test results to determine how well they are teaching the curriculum (Bond, 1996). CRT helps measure the academic achievement of students usually for the purposes of comparing academic performance among schools, districts and states. The results provide a basis for determining how well the material which is learned by students and how well the educational system is producing results (Cohen, Manion & Morrison 2004). Beside its advantages, CRT also has a disadvantages. CRT does not allow for comparing the performance of students in a particular location with national norms. For example, a school would be unable to compare 5th grade achievement levels in a district.                                                   After the writer tells about the advantages and disadvantages of CRT. The writer will show, some advantages and disadvantages of NRT.                                                                                                          NRT  is a good tool to measures variety of skills and ability of a students. It helps to identify the students who may need special assistance for example mental disorder, learning disabilities (autism, dyslexia), attention disorder. NRT is also good for ranking and sorting students for administrative purposes  since NRT is usually be used in academic aptitude test. Beside its advantages, NRT also bring some disadvantages. NRT is considered unfair by some experts. It is because the student who actually gets a low score, will get a high score because of the group average score. The test in NRT is also considered unclear since the questions in NRT test are eliminated and it will make the low scorers might get right.                                                                                                          The last thing that will be discussed by the writer is the implementation of NRT and CRT in Indonesia and America. In Indonesia, most of the teachers still mix the NRT and CRT system since the students cognitive level is not well compared to the other nations. When the teacher gives a score in daily examination, she will use the CRT assesment. But when the teacher wants to process the score in the form of raport, the teachers will use NRT. The teacher will calculate the average, after she finds the group average, the teacher will find the deviation standar (SD).