When students receive the same score on a test, does that mean they know the same amount about the topic? The answer to this question is more complex than it may first appear. This paper compares classical and modern test theories in terms of how they estimate student ability. Crucial distinctions between the aims of Rasch Measurement and IRT are…

This research aims to compare the ability and item parameter estimations of Item Response Theory according to Maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches in different Monte Carlo simulation conditions. For this purpose, depending on the changes in the priori distribution type, sample size, test length, and logistics model, the ability and item…

In line with the journal volume's theme, this essay considers lessons from the past and visions for the future of test validity. In the first part of the essay, a description of historical trends in test validity since the early 1900s leads to the natural question of whether the discipline has progressed in its definition and description of test…

Programme evaluation has developed tremendously over the past 50 years, with a proliferation of evaluation research, an increase in the institutionalization of evaluation, and growth in the professionalization of evaluation. However, existing research and developments are still largely in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, with…

This paper follows a line of logical argumentation to claim that what Samuel Messick conceptualized about construct validation has probably been misunderstood by some educational policy makers, practicing educators, and classroom teachers. It argues that, while Messick's unified theory of test validation aimed at (a) warning educational…

Despite the frequent use of state-of-the-art psychometric models in the field of medical education, there is a growing body of literature that questions their usefulness in the assessment of medical competence. Essentially, a number of authors raised doubt about the appropriateness of psychometric models as a guiding framework to secure and refine…

Although the principles behind assessment "for" and "as" learning are well-established, there can be a struggle when reforming traditional assessment "of" learning to a program which encompasses assessment "for" and "as" learning. When introducing and reporting reforms, tensions in faculty may…

The focal paper by Baird et al. in this special issue argues that there are few issues more important in education than the relationship between assessment and learning. On the one hand, learning is the ultimate goal of all educational interventions; on the other, assessment has become a leviathan that constrains and shapes virtually all of that…

This study compares the psychometric properties of reliability in Classical Test Theory (CTT), item information in Item Response Theory (IRT), and validation from the perspective of modern validity theory for the purpose of bringing attention to potential issues that might exist when testing organizations use both test theories in the same testing…

The AERA, APA, NCME Standards define validity as "the degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretations of test scores for proposed uses of tests". A century of disagreement about validity does not mean that there has not been substantial progress. This consensus definition brings together interpretations and use so that it…

In this article, Dylan William states that the central claim in Baird, et al.'s piece is that if theories of assessment take into account theories of learning, assessments will somehow be more valid, and some of the more egregious effects of assessment on learning will be ameliorated. William responds to this claim by arguing that it seems…

Naomi Gafni, director of Research and Development, National Institute for Testing and Evaluation, Jerusalem, Israel, has devoted a substantial part of her career to the development of admissions tests and other educational tests and to the investigation of their validity. As such she is keenly aware of the complexities involved in this process.…

This special issue of "Assessment in Education" contains the type of debate needed about what Cizek (2015) calls a "… lingering flaw in the concept of validity…." Some practitioners might not agree that the current theory of validation is flawed. Specifically, the debate Jon Twing is referencing concerns the role of the…

In this commentary, Mary James highlights two problems she deemed critical during her work exploring the relationships between assessment and learning in theory and practice. First, efforts to improve assessment for learning were not always successful either in improving performance or in other ways. Second, and this may be a reason for the first…

Brennan (Brennan, R. L., 2012) noted that users of test scores often want (indeed, demand) that subscores be reported, along with total test scores, for diagnostic purposes. Haberman (Haberman, S. J., 2008) suggested a method based on classical test theory (CTT) to determine if subscores have added value over the total score. According to this…