Establishing the Content Validity of High-Leverage Content Topics and Practices for Teaching Science

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: High-Impact Science Teaching and Its Impact on Learning

Abstract

The accumulation of content validity evidence is critically important in constructing and evaluating licensure assessments. The purpose of this study is to explore the validity evidence supporting science content knowledge topics and teaching practices assessed in a kindergarten through 6th grade teacher licensure assessment. We accumulated relevance, importance, and frequency judgments on 12 content knowledge topics and 27 science teaching practices from 203 practitioners verifying the necessity of these competencies for elementary school science teachers first entering the teaching profession. Overall, the content-related validity evidence collected supports the science content knowledge topics as important for a beginning elementary school science teacher’s ability to be an effective educator.

Authors

• Michelle Martin-Raugh, Educational Testing Service

• Jamie N. Mikeska, Educational Testing Service

• Jonathan Steinberg, Educational Testing Service

• Jennifer Minsky, Educational Testing Service