Establishing Validity Evidence for a Comprehensive Assessment Designed to Measure the Common Core State Standards

• In Event: Factor Analysis: Model Specification and Fit

Abstract

The study examined the factors common to two comprehensive achievement assessments developed to measure different content standards. The technique used was the inter-assessment factor analysis method which uses only inter- correlations among the sets of tests and reveals only the factors that they have in common. Three inter- assessment factors were identified as English language arts, aspects of written language, and mathematics. The factors and factor structure are consistent across the comprehensive assessments, and reflect the structure of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) with an emphasis on literacy in social studies and science. The study supported the construct validity of the new comprehensive assessment and the CCSS.

Authors

• Keyu Chen, University of Iowa

• Catherine Welch, University of Iowa

• Stephen B. Dunbar, University of Iowa