Understanding Assessment Scores

When I began reading Chapter 4 this week, I was a little confused about the content of the chapter and how I could relate that to my career.  Chapter 3 had been more of a focus on the statistical calculations and data, which I have learned a great deal about in the past.  However interpreting test scores is an area I am not as familiar with specifically norm-referenced and criterion-referenced scores.  After finishing Chapter 4, I have begun to comprehend what these two types of interpretation mean and how beneficial it can be to understand them as a school counselor.

Many types of standard scores are recognizable to me from other classes and from conversation within schools.  Drummond and Jones (2010) were able to give a deeper description of how these scores are applied and used to understand a student's capability and where they stand in comparison to other students their age, grade or the larger population.  The grade and age equivalents in particular stuck out to me.  It was noted that it is important that these not be used alone as primary scores because they do have many limitations.  I found this to be important.  It seems simple that these equivalents would provide a great deal of information about a student in comparison to their peers.  The grade equivalents are specific to their grade level and subtest.  A fifth grade student may receive an above average score in math such as 7.4 but this does not mean she is at a 7th grade level.  This number only tells us that she is above her peers within 5th grade and performing at a much higher level for 5th grade math.  The age equivalents are also difficult to rely on because the rate of growth for most behavior varies year by year and person by person.  This makes it hard to compare students to others at their age.  I believe have a stronger understanding of these concepts will help me when I am working with students in schools.  I will be able to break down a student's ability level based on this score while still recognizing the limitations those scores have.

Now that we have gained this deeper comprehension of assessment and interpreting scores, I am looking forward to figuring out how to apply this to real life examples.  I am hoping to start to learn more about the tests and assessments that are providing these scores and how we can use these scores to help our students.

I also wanted to reflect on last week's class when we discussed the ethical issues with the class.  I truly believe that ethical issues will always be one of the most difficult aspects of our career.  There is no black and white but instead a lot of gray areas that we have to be cautious of.  Even after going over each case study it was clear that everyone views each situation differently.  This also made me aware that different codes would come into play depending on who is handling that case.  Something that made me feel a little more confident about making ethical decisions was learning more about the standard systems and rules that are laid out in individual districts.  It seems expected that we follow the rules that we have been provided but that we also have our codes of ethics, our peers, and other professionals that we can turn to if we need assistance.  Allow this area seems to be the most difficult, there are many resources and knowing/understanding this provides some sense of security.

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.