USING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS TO LINK STATEWIDE ACHIEVEMENT RESULTS TO NAEP

The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparability in scor e meaning of the performance regions on the ITBS and NAEP mathematics score scales that resulted from using performance standards to establi sh two separate links: socially moderated and statistically moderated. A socially moderated link was established by using the same achieveme nt level descriptions in an ITBS standard-setting study that were used in a NAEP standard-setting study. A statistically moderated link was accomplished by using an equipercentile procedure. The primary finding s were that (a) social moderation yielded cutscores on the ITBS scales that resulted in larger percentages of Iowa public fourth-grade stude nts being classified within the basic, proficient, and advanced achiev ement regions than those reported by NAEP; (b) the equipercentile link yielded percentages on the ITBS scale that were similar to those repo rted by NAEP far ''type of community'' subgroups; and (c) for students taking both assessments, the corresponding achievement regions on the NAEP and ITBS scales produced low to moderate percents of agreement i n student classification.