A criterion-referenced evaluation judges performance against what?

• A. A predetermined standard
• B. A peer group
• C. A time limit
• D. A random sample

Answer: (A)

Criterion-referenced evaluation means you judge performance against a predefined standard or set of criteria. It focuses on whether the learner has met specific, defined requirements for the task, not on how they stack up against other people. So the passing decision depends on meeting those established standards, not on relative performance. In practice, you’d have clear criteria or rubrics defining what constitutes acceptable performance, and a learner either meets those criteria or does not. The other ideas don’t fit because comparing to a peer group is norm-referenced (relative to others), a time limit is simply a constraint rather than the measure itself, and a random sample relates to sampling, not how performance is evaluated.