This module is designed for educators, educational researchers, and psychometricians who would like to develop an understanding of the basic concepts of validity theory, test validation, and documenting a "validity argument." It also describes how an in-depth understanding of the purposes and uses of educational tests sets the foundation…

In standardized educational testing, test items are reused in multiple test administrations. To ensure the validity of test scores, the psychometric properties of items should remain unchanged over time. In this article, we consider the sequential monitoring of test items, in particular, the detection of abrupt changes to their psychometric…

The BCBA Task List (5th and 6th Edition) requires behavior analysts are familiar with multiple assessment methods, including tools to assess the function of problem behaviors and assess skill strengths and deficits. Although several studies exist on the assessment of functions using indirect functional assessments, descriptive functional…

Educators and researchers strive to build policies and practices on data and evidence, especially on academic achievement scores. When assessment scores are inaccurate for specific student populations or when scores are inappropriately used, even data-driven decisions will be misinformed. To maximize the impact of the research-practice-policy…

This article addresses conceptual and methodological shortcomings regarding conducting and interpreting intelligence test factor analytic research that appeared in the Decker, S. L., Bridges, R. M., Luedke, J. C., & Eason, M. J. (2020). Dimensional evaluation of cognitive measures: Methodological confounds and theoretical concerns.…

In "The Testing Charade: Pretending to Make Schools Better", the author's new book from which this article is drawn, the failures of test-based accountability are documented and some of the most egregious misuses and outright abuses of testing are described, along with some of the most serious negative effects. Neither good intentions…

PISA [Programme for International Student Assessment] will be in the news again this year. The 2018 results are due to be released at the end of 2019 and they usually generate media interest. This Rangahau Whakarapopoto is a research brief which outlines things to watch out for as you think about what the results might mean.

Daniel Koretz is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on educational assessment and policy, particularly the effects of high-stakes testing on educational practice and the validity of score gains. He is the author of "Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells…

Abilities in scientific thinking and reasoning have been emphasized as core areas of initiatives, such as the Next Generation Science Standards or the College Board Standards for College Success in Science, which focus on the skills the future will demand of today's students. Although there is rich literature on studies of how these abilities…

Ultimately, measures in research, testing, assessment and evaluation are used, or have implications, for ranking, intervention, feedback, decision-making or policy purposes. Explicit recognition of this fact brings the often-ignored and sometimes maligned concept of consequences to the fore. Given that measures have personal and social…

This article offers a rationale for the contributions of qualitative research to evidence-based practice in special education. In it, I make the argument that qualitative research encompasses the ability to study significant problems of practice, engage with practitioners in the conduct of research studies, learn and change processes during a…

The "Parenting Stress Index, Fourth Edition" (PSI-4) is a 120-item measure used to explore parental stress levels considering a parent's relationship with one of his or her children between the ages of 1 month and 12 years. The main purpose of the test is to define these stress levels and from where they originate in order to identify…

The main problem of the educational evaluation validity is that it just copies the conceptual framework system of validity from educational measurement to its own conceptual system. The validity conceptual system that fits the need of theory and practice of educational evaluation has not been established yet. According to the inherent attributive…

In this interview, JD Brown reflects on language testing/assessment. He suggests that language testing can be seen as a continuum with hard core positivist approaches at one end and post modernist interpretive perspectives at the other, and also argues that norm referencing (be it proficiency, placement, or aptitude testing) and criterion…

A method for medical screening is adapted to differential item functioning (DIF). Its essential elements are explicit declarations of the level of DIF that is acceptable and of the loss function that quantifies the consequences of the two kinds of inappropriate classification of an item. Instead of a single level and a single function, sets of…