Science education frameworks in the United States have moved strongly in recent years to incorporate more dimensions of learning, including measuring student use of scientific practices employed during scientific inquiry. For instance, the Next Generation Science Standards and related multidimensional frameworks adopted or adapted recently by more…

In the wake of an increasing political commitment to evidence-based decision making and evidence-based educational reform that emerged with the No Child Left Behind effort, the question of what counts as evidence has become increasingly important in the field of science education. In current public discussions, academics, politicians, and other…

Beginning with a reference to living in a time of both uncertainty and opportunity, this article presents a discussion of key areas where shared understanding is needed if we are to successfully realize the design and use of high quality, valid assessments of science. The key areas discussed are: (1) assessment purpose and use, (2) the nature of…

Explores the work done in revising and field testing the Scientific Attitude Instrument and raises doubts about the instrument's validity. Discusses consideration of approaches to validity, conceptual analysis of science attitude instruments, using other studies to establish validity, and guidelines for valid instruments. Contains 12 references.…

Lists six problems related to descriptive data and to factor analysis performed in a previous research study reported in this journal. Includes the authors' response to the suggested weaknesses of their study. (JN)

Presents a new method in test construction which augments an instrument's validity beyond that possible by standard procedures. (Author/JR)

Agrees that the conceptual validity of the Scientific Attitude Inventory is suspect and a conceptual reanalysis of the distinction between "attitudes to science" and "scientific attitudes" is needed. However, inquiry into whether such instruments are developed consistently with formal criteria and theoretical guidelines of…

Investigates and presents evidence concerning the construct validity of the Test of Higher Cognitive Learning in Chemistry (THCLC), a 40-item multiple-choice test developed to provide assessment of first semester introductory college chemistry students' higher cognitive skills. (Author/GA)

Describes the design of an instrument to measure the attitudes of teachers toward metrication, and reports on its reliability and validity. (GA)

Describes research undertaken to assess the validity of the Views of Science (VOS) questionnaire. The instrument purports to measure a subject's view of the tentativeness of science. Findings indicated that although the instrument appeared to have construct validity, the physical science backgrounds of subjects taking the test appeared to affect…

The use of content validity as the primary assurance of the measurement accuracy for science assessment examinations is questioned. An alternative accuracy measure, item validity, is proposed. Item validity is based on research using qualitative comparisons between (1) student answers to objective items, (2) clinical interviews, and (3) student…

Designs a testing situation to examine the presence of combinatorial analysis, to establish construct validity in the use of an instrument, Combinatorial Analysis Behavior Observation Scheme (CABOS), and to investigate the presence of the schema in young adolescents. (Author/GA)

Reports on the development and validation of a new junior high school version of the Test On Understanding Science (TOUS).

Reported is a study designed to estimate reliability of a Q-sort self-concept instrument for science teachers and science students. (Author/SA)