Purpose: This AERI-NEPC eBrief, the fourth in a series titled "Understanding validity issues around the world", looks closely at issues surrounding the validity of test-based actions in educational accountability and school improvement contexts. The specific discussions here focus testing issues in the US. However, the general principles…

There is something incalculable about teacher expertise and whether it can be observed, detected, quantified, and as per current educational policies, used as an accountability tool to hold America's public school teachers accountable for that which they do (or do not do well). In this commentary, authors (all of whom are former public school…

Background/Context: The target of assessment validation is not an assessment but the use of an assessment for a purpose. Although the validation literature often provides examples of assessment purposes, comprehensive reviews of these purposes are rare. Additionally, assessment purposes posed for validation are generally described as discrete and…

Value-added evaluations use student test scores to assess teacher effectiveness. How student achievement is judged can depend on which test is used to measure it. Thus it is reasonable to ask whether a teacher's value-added score depends on which test is used to calculate it. Would it change if a different test was used? Specifically, might a…

Despite questions about validity and reliability, the use of value-added estimation methods has moved beyond academic research into state accountability systems for teachers, schools, and teacher preparation programs (TPPs). Prior studies of value-added measurement for TPPs test the validity of researcher-designed models and find that measuring…

This article represents one outcome from the "Invitational Research Symposium on Technology-Enabled and Universally Designed Assessments," which examined technology-enabled assessments (TEA) and universal design (UD) as they relate to students with disabilities (SWD). It was developed to stimulate research into TEAs designed to better understand…

Analysis of the cost-effectiveness of 29 Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) models suggests that all 29 models are less cost-effective than an alternative approach for raising student achievement, involving rapid assessment systems that test students 2 to 5 times per week in math and reading and provide rapid feedback of the results to students and…

The purpose of this research activity was to investigate contemporary understandings of the connections between learning and work. This initial work was then used to inform the development of an organisational tool that registered training organisations (RTOs) could use to identify organisational practices likely to lead to greater learning at…

If curriculum is to be the basis for assessment reform, assessment specialists must model the process for producing valid assessment products. Validity criteria should guide any model for the assessment development process. However, curriculum-based assessment systems should not be confused with standards-driven assessment systems. (SLD)

This article describes performance-based assessment as expounded by its proponents, comments on these conceptions, reviews evidence regarding the technical quality of performance-based assessment, and considers its validity under various policy options. (JDD)

Recent changes in the objectives and techniques of testing India's university students are examined, including trends toward continuous rather than biennial or annual evaluation; internal (institutional) rather than external, standardized examinations; replacement of essay exams with more objective methods; and a letter grading system. (MSE)

This report is part of South Carolina's effort to move toward "100 percent performance funding" for the state's public colleges and universities and results from a task force's investigation of ways to assess critical thinking. The following eight major findings are reported: (1) policy makers must determine priorities; (2) critical…

Arguments for replacing standardized multiple choice tests with performance assessment that encourages teachers to devote more attention to higher order skills, and thus results in increased student achievement, are based on three assumptions: (1) the teaching profession, key decision makers, and parents will accept performance assessment measures…

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,…

Three expert panels reviewed the 1991 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) reading test. This was the first year of an assessment program designed to measure school progress toward, among other content areas, three reading outcomes: reading for literary experience, reading to become informed, and reading to perform a task. The…