Relating to norms in a criterion-referenced system of evaluation

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the Swedish system of evaluation is criterion-referenced. In this system, one of the main purposes of national tests is to promote equity in assessment. This article explores how teachers in the subject fields of English and Swedish in compulsory school (grades 6 and 9), understand the relationship between the act of grading and the national test results. We find that the teachers we have interviewed typically dismiss quantitative data and comparisons at aggregated levels and we argue that this dismissal has its root cause in an erroneous understanding of criterion-referenced assessment as completely independent of norms. A better, more nuanced understanding of the role of norms in criterion-referenced assessment would, we suggest, allow teachers to make better use of the potential of national tests in promoting equity.