2 – Work file 4: Standards of reference

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There are three different basic standards of reference for the assessment and marking of students’ performance:

Individual criterion: the student’s present performance is compared with his or her previous work.
Objective criterion: the student’s performance is compared with the learning objectives that have been defined.
Social criterion: a student’s performance is compared with that of the students within the same class or the same age group.

Type of criterion	Individual criterion	Objective criterion	Social criterion
Reference figure	Learning progress	Learning objective	Normal curve of distribution, arithmetic average, deviation
Information	How much has been learned between time 1 and time 2?	To what extent has the student approached the learning objective?	How big is the deviation of the individual progress from the average?
Type of assessment	Tests, verbal assessment, learning progress report, structured form of observation	Goal-oriented test, learning progress report, structured form of observation	Test including a grade oriented on the average of the class
Pedagogical implication	Very high	Very high	Is often used for selection; is not important for orientation towards support for students