Moss, Pamela A., Girard, Brian J., Haniford, Laura C. (2006) Validity in Educational Assessment. Review of Research in Education, 30: 109-162
This piece reviewed various theories related to assessment. One validity theory looks at assessment as something that should be tested like any scientific hypothesis to determine whether empirical evidence exists that a given assessment actually measures what it was designed to measure (115). What I wonder is how often educators actually do this? If not then isn’t the test simply an end in itself, without any relation to the real world. Reminds me of education as simulation and simulacra in the Jean Baudrillard sense. One thing I wonder is that if we can gather evidence of learning to tell if assessment methods were valid, why bother with the assessment method in the first place? I guess it would be too costly? I currently do not know the methodology of assessing the assessment. Something for me to look in to.
The piece also looks at the role of participation and identity in learning (126 – 128). Participatory learning requires the formation of an identity related to someone that is willing to do what it takes to learn in school and to be a resource to other students (127). The authors look at one case study where the teacher collects evidence of both their ability to solve problems and their evolving identities and participation. Both assessments are needed in order to inform the direction of the day to day practice of teaching (128).