Paul E. Newton's article on the consensus definition of validity tackles a number of big issues and makes a number of strong claims. I agreed with much of what he said, and I disagreed with a number of his claims, but I found his article to be consistently interesting and thought provoking (whether I agreed or not). I will focus on three general…

This article responds to a critique of Ordinate Corporation's "Versant for English" test (formerly PhonePass and SET-10). The critique (Chun, 2006) purports to apply the language task framework of Bachman and Palmer (1996) and the Test Fairness framework of Kunnan (2004) as guides for an analysis. However, the analysis fails to apply either…

Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007) have proposed a framework that seemingly deems construct validity evidence irrelevant to supporting educational test meaning. The author of this article agrees with Lissitz and Samuelsen that internal evidence establishes test meaning, but she argues that construct validity need not be removed from the validity sphere.…

In response to Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007), the author reconstructs the historical arguments for the more comprehensive unitary concept of validity and the principles of scientific inquiry underlying it. Her response is organized in terms of four questions: (a) How did validity in educational measurement come to be conceptualized as unitary, and…

Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007) propose a new framework for validity theory and terminology, emphasizing a shift in theory and practice toward issues of test content rather than constructs. The author of this article argues that several of Lissitz and Samuelsen's critiques of validity theory focus on previously considered, but subsequently discarded,…

Responds to three points Tomm (1986) makes: the heart of science is explanation, not measurement; Tomm's disagreement with Shields over the term "objectivity"; and Tomm's contention that the focus of research and theory building should be the interactional nature of therapy itself. (Author/ABB)

This paper presents two general approaches to the assessment of knowledge structures, the first of which entails the building of empirical evidence to support cognitive theory. This type of assessment is concerned with attempting to prove the existence of various knowledge structures; that is, evidence that leads to the construct validity of these…

Examines construct validity from the perspectives of phenomenology and ethnographic research, critical theory, the interpretive analytics of Foucault, and the deconstructive criticism of Derrida. Concludes that construct validation is a pragmatic and critical activity. (FMW)

This response argues that, although evaluation of student learning is required for accountability, high stakes testing is not required and may even be counterproductive. It also questions whether the goals of the "No Child Left Behind Act" are reasonable and contends that, if they are not, there may be no justification for imposing…