Combining methods from earlier content validity and more contemporary content alignment studies may allow a more complete evaluation of the meaning of test scores than if either set of methods is used on its own. This article distinguishes item relevance indices in the content validity literature from test representativeness indices in the…

We address two persistent challenges in large-scale assessments of the Next Generation Science Standards: (a) the validity of score interpretations that target the standards broadly and (b) how to structure claims for assessments of this complex domain. The NGSS pose a particular challenge for specifying claims about students that evidence from…

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…

This article provides a brief introduction to the set of four articles in the special issue. To provide a foundation for the issue, key terms are defined, a brief historical overview of validity is provided, and a description of several different validation approaches used in the issue are explained. Finally, the contribution of the articles to…

What follows is a practical guide for establishing the validity of a survey for research purposes. The motivation for providing this guide is our observation that researchers, not necessarily being survey researchers per se, but wanting to use a survey method, lack a concise resource on validity. There is far more to know about surveys and survey…

The digital transition in educational testing has introduced many new opportunities for technology to enhance large-scale assessments. These include the potential to collect and use log data on test-taker response processes routinely, and on a large scale. Process data has long been recognised as a valuable source of validation evidence in…

Although Diagnostic Classification Models (DCMs) were introduced to education system decades ago, it seems that these models were not employed for the original aims upon which they had been designed. Using DCMs has been mostly common in analyzing large-scale non-diagnostic tests and these models have been rarely used in developing Cognitive…

The BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) has been used to select students for healthcare courses for 15 years. Recently, the candidature has included an increasing number of test takers who did not complete their schooling in the UK. In line with responsibilities to promote widening participation, a revision of the Section 2 Scientific Knowledge and…

This technical report documents the processes and procedures employed by NWEA® to build and support the English MAP® Reading Fluency™ assessments administered during the 2020-2021 school year. It is written for measurement professionals and administrators to help evaluate the quality of MAP Reading Fluency. The seven sections of this report: (1)…

Assessment and evaluation tools and instruments are developed to measure many things from content knowledge to misconceptions to student affect. The standard validation processes for these are regularly conducted and provide strong evidence for the validity of the measurements that are made. As part of the suite of validation tools available to…

In today's digital age, tests are increasingly being delivered on computers. Many of these computer-based tests (CBTs) have been adapted from paper-based tests (PBTs). However, this change in mode of test administration has the potential to introduce construct-irrelevant variance, affecting the validity of score interpretations. Because of this,…

The Distributed Item Review (DIR) is a secure and flexible, web-based system designed to present test items to expert reviewers across a broad geographic area for evaluation of important dimensions of quality (e.g., alignment with standards, bias, sensitivity, and student accessibility). The DIR is comprised of essential features that allow system…

Cognitive interviewing (CI) is a method to identify sources of confusion in assessment items and to assess validity evidence on the basis of content and response processes. We introduce readers to CI and describe a process for conducting such interviews and analyzing the results. Recommendations for best practice are provided.

Over the past several years, content experts, psychometricians, and researchers have been hard at work developing, refining, and studying the digital SAT. The work is grounded in foundational best practices and advances in measurement and assessment design, with fairness for students informing all of the work done. This paper shares learnings from…

Testing in educational system perform a number of functions, the results from a test can be used to make a number of decisions in education. It is therefore well accepted in the education literature that, testing is an important element of education. To effectively utilize the tests in educational policies and quality assurance its validity and…