What is a potential disadvantage of criterion-referenced assessment?

• A. Assessment protocol may not be well-defined
• B. It has high predictive validity
• C. It requires large normative samples
• D. It relies on standardized stimuli

Answer: (A)

Criterion-referenced assessment works by judging performance against a fixed standard rather than against other test-takers. A key issue with this approach is that the usefulness of the results hinges on how clearly and consistently the standard and the rules for applying it are defined. If the criteria are vague or open to interpretation, different evaluators may rate the same performance differently, and a given performance might be judged as meeting the standard in one setting but not in another. That variability undermines reliability and makes it hard to compare results across contexts or to track progress over time. In other words, a potential disadvantage is that the protocol—how you determine whether the standard is met—may not be well-defined, which weakens the trustworthiness of the assessment.

The other statements aren’t inherent drawbacks of criterion-referenced tests: they don’t inherently require large normative samples (that’s a feature of norm-referenced tests); they don’t inherently rely on standardized stimuli (criterion-referenced tests can be either standardized or nonstandardized); and predictive validity is not guaranteed or intrinsic to this approach.