"Standard" is distinguished from "criterion" as it is used in criterion-referenced testing. The former is argued to refer to the real-world cutpoint at which a decision is made based on a test's result (e.g., exemption from a special training program). The latter is a skill or set of skills to which a test is referenced. However, criteria can relate to standards using a layer or layers of mediating descriptive information such as benchmark or level descriptors. Examples of this relationship are shown in two language tests, the International English Language Testing System and an experimental test of avoidance of plagiarism used at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Clarity, consensus, and communication among members of the test development team are seen as critical to the clear articulation of the relationship between criterion-referenced test and its corresponding real-world standard or cutpoint. Contains 17 references. (Author/MSE)