What type of reading assessment compares students' performance to a national sample group?

The correct answer is norm-referenced assessment, which is designed to compare a student’s performance to that of a national sample group. This type of assessment provides insights into how a student’s skills and achievements measure up against the performance of peers across a broader population. Norm-referenced assessments are often standardized tests that yield results indicating a student's relative standing, typically presented as percentile ranks or standard scores.

In contrast, criterion-referenced assessments focus on whether students meet specific learning criteria or standards, rather than comparing them to others. Formative assessments are used to monitor student learning and provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and students’ learning. Summative assessments are typically given at the end of an instructional period to evaluate student learning against a benchmark, but they do not focus on comparisons with a national sample like norm-referenced assessments do. Norm-referenced assessments, therefore, are key for understanding a student's performance in the context of a national population.