From the Ground Up: Validity and the Early Childhood Assessment

• In Event: Validity in Systems of Data Use

Abstract

Although more than a decade has passed since the 1999 Joint Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing set out a call for the organization of validity evidence into validity arguments, practical examples of such arguments are not readily available for the research community. The purpose of this paper is to examine validity theory in the context of emerging state level early childhood assessment systems. Specifically, the authors review potential purposes for such systems and the assumptions related to instruction, assessment and outcomes for children subsumed within those purpose statements. Potential sources of evidence to support or refute those assumptions are also presented.

Authors

• Jessica A. Goldstein, University of Connecticut

• Jessica Kay Flake, University of Connecticut

• Peter Behuniak, University of Connecticut