Definition
The instructional design step in which an instructor creates test questions, performance tasks, or evaluation activities that directly measure whether a student has met specific, predefined learning objectives (criteria), rather than comparing students to each other.
Plain English
Building test questions and tasks that check whether the student can do exactly what the lesson said they should be able to do — measured against a clear standard, not against how other students performed.
Context Anchor
Seen in flight instructor training, especially when planning lessons, written tests, oral questions, and skill checks for a student pilot.
Derivation
Criterion comes from the Greek 'kriterion,' meaning a standard for judging. Referenced means 'measured against.' So a criterion-referenced item judges the student against a fixed standard of performance, not against the group.
Why Pilots Care
Ensures students are advanced only when they meet objective safety and proficiency standards, preventing gaps that could affect flight safety.
Intuition Check
Do not read “criterion-referenced” as “graded on a curve.” It means the student is measured against a stated standard, not against other students.
Example Sentence 1
When the instructor sat down to develop criterion-referenced assessment items for the steep turns lesson, she wrote tasks that required maintaining altitude within 100 feet and bank angle within 5 degrees.
Example Sentence 2
When preparing the stage check, the CFI developed criterion-referenced assessment items focused on V-speeds and emergency procedures at the required accuracy level.