VALIDITY OF THE ASSESSMENT TOOLS

VALIDITY OF THE ASSESSMENT TOOLS

Two major purposes of the assessment has been identified by the experts of
measurement, the first is to assist learning and second to determine the effectiveness of
the educational process these can only be achieved when the teachers are sure about the
tools for example tests, they use for the assessment that test are valid and reliable. When
a teachers or instructor has to choose among the two or more tests, all of which are
available from the well reputable sources, it impose some difficulty for the
teacher/instructor. Therefore it is essential to check the local conditions and the contents
of the instructions, that which one is closely aligned with the contents. On the other hand,
we can say that we have to focus upon the objectives of the instructional process. The
alignment of test items with the learning outcomes, this characteristic of the assessment
tools is called the validity of the test.
In order to assure the validity, we must ask these questions to make sure that our
assessment matches our educational purposes. As a teacher we should find the most
appropriate assessment method for assessing the desired learning outcomes. When
considering the assessment tasks we should consider the strengths and weaknesses of the
test items and the arrangement of the items in the tests.
In the previous unit you have learnt about the reliability of the assessment tools, that
refers to the consistency, here in this unit the prime consideration is the validity, which
may be referred as the credibility of the assessment tool. Therefore different definitions
of validity, methods of assuring validity of the assessment tools and the factors affecting
the validity of the assessment tools have been discussed in this lesson

contect outline of the chapter are

1.      Validity of Assessment Tool

1.1.   Nature of Validity

1.2.   Methods of Measuring Validity

1.2.1.      Content construct Validity

1.2.2.      Concurrent validity

1.2.3.      Predictive validity

1.2.4.      Criterion Validity

1.2.5.      Factors affecting validity

1.2.6.      Relationship between Validity and Reliability

Download Files

ch6-validity-of-the-test.pdf (0.18 MB )