Validation of Score Meaning for the Next Generation of Assessments

This book explores the significance of response processes in validating assessments, emphasizing their role in ensuring fairness and accuracy in scoring.

The book Validation of Score Meaning for the Next Generation of Assessments delves into the critical role of response processes data in understanding the validity and fairness of assessments. This data encompasses the strategies, behaviors, and thought processes that examinees utilize during testing. Despite advancements in research surrounding the integration of response process data into assessment design, its application in test validation remains infrequent. The book emphasizes the necessity of validity evidence derived from these response processes, offering valuable guidance for measurement researchers and practitioners aiming to incorporate such evidence into their assessment validation practices.

In Validation of Score Meaning for the Next Generation of Assessments, response processes are defined as the various approaches and behaviors that examinees exhibit when interpreting assessments and generating solutions. These behaviors can be observed through various means, including verbalizations, eye movements, response times, or clicks on digital platforms. By analyzing this data, researchers can gain insights into how effectively items and tasks engage examinees in meaningful ways, thus enhancing the assessment's validity.

Contributions from leading experts in the assessment field enrich this volume, with chapters dedicated to methodological challenges and practical applications across diverse assessment contexts. The first part addresses the framing of validity as an evidence-based argument for interpreting test scores, while the second part provides real-world examples of response process data in action, particularly in complex cognitive assessments and those tailored for students from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds.