Plain English Meaning

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.

Full 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.

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.