Norm-referenced tests (NRTs, sometimes referred to as standardized tests) and criterion-referenced tests1
(CRTs, also known as classroom tests) are two families of tests that are distinguished most clearly in
terms of the ways scores are interpreted, the purposes of the tests, levels of specificity, the distributions
of scores, the structures of the tests, and what we want the students to know in advance. In more detail,
the two types of tests differ in:
The ways scores are interpreted differ is that NRTs are designed to compare the performances
of students to one another in relative terms, while CRTs are built to identify the amount or
percent of the material each examinee knows or can do in absolute terms.