Six distinguishable aspects of construct validity are discussed as they apply to performance assessment, emphasizing content, substantive, structural, generalizability, external, and consequential aspects. Taken together, these aspects provide a way to address validity questions in score interpretation and use. (SLD)

The 1992 annual conference of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) was dedicated to explaining "What Works in Performance Assessment?" This report provides a synopsis of discussions by over 300 policymakers, researchers, and teachers. CRESST Co-Director Eva Baker summed up the present state of…

This study provides empirical evidence about the sampling variability and generalizability (reliability) of a statewide performance assessment for grade six. Results for 600 students at individual and school levels indicate that task-sampling variability was the major source of measurement error. Rater-sampling variability was negligible. (SLD)

The New Standards Project conducted a pilot test of a series of performance-based assessment tasks in mathematics and English language arts at Grades 4 and 8 in the spring of 1993. This paper reports the results of a series of generalizability analyses conducted for a subset of the 1993 pilot study data in mathematics. Generalizability analyses…

Issues pertaining to the quality of performance assessments, including reliability and validity, are discussed. The relatively limited generalizability of performance across tasks is indicative of the care needed to evaluate performance assessments. Quality control is an empirical matter when measurement is intended to inform public policy. (SLD)

Current national efforts to expand the role of educational assessment and change the nature of assessments are discussed. Rationales for expectations that a new national examination would spur educational reform are analyzed; and the challenges of performance-based assessment, particularly in its validation, are examined. (Author/SLD)

Some of the reasons efforts are being made to reform education are discussed, and how these reforms are likely to affect U.S. schools is explored. Data collected annually by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) indicate that almost all states have some form of assessment that is administered to all students at one or more grade…

Current national efforts to expand the role of educational assessment and radically change the nature of assessment are discussed. Rationales for expectations that a new national examination system would serve as a lever of educational reform are analyzed. Challenges posed for educational measurement by the proposed heavy reliance on complex,…

Lessons derived from the Job Performance Measurement (JPM) Project, which is overseen by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management and Personnel, for educational assessment are explored. The JPM Project was initiated to develop high fidelity measures of performance on the job that can be used to evaluate personnel…