Week 2 | Education homework help

Week 2 – Discussion 1

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Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

 Validity and Reliability

“Whether discussing formal or informal assessments, the assessment process must have integrity across an assessment’s development, use, and analysis” (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E., 2015, p. 93). Before beginning the discussion, make sure you have read section 3.4 of our textbook that discusses the importance of reliability and validity in assessment. Next, watch the following videos on test validity and reliability:

Then, address the following:

• Summarize your understanding of reliability and validity, including how they are related. 
• Explain the importance of reliability and validity in assessment.
• Analyze the following situation:
  • A center or school is looking for an assessment instrument to measure reading ability. The selection has been narrowed to two possibilities:
    • Test A shows measures of strong validity, but there is no information about its reliability.
    • Test B includes measures of strong reliability, but there is no information about its validity.
  • Which test would you recommend? Be sure to include a comprehensive rationale with three reasons that support why you chose the test you did.

Guided Response: Review several of your peers’ responses. Respond to at least two of your peers by discussing whether you agree or disagree with the test they recommended. Justify your point of view by providing at least two reasons for why you agree or disagree. Also, include examples of how they could increase the validity or reliability of the test they chose.

Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you. Remember, continuing to engage with peers and the instructor will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real-world experiences with this topic.

Ashford University – Ed Tech | Introduction_to_Test_Validity

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Hello, Dr. Metric. I am looking forward to talking with you today about test validity. Good, Susie. Test validity is a very important and interesting topic.
What is test validity, Dr. Metric, and why is it important?

There are many technical definitions of test validity, but a simple definition is– the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. Test validity is important because if a test does not have validity, you cannot be confident that the test scores are accurate or useful for making decisions.

It certainly does seem to be important and simple.

It is really not that simple, Susie. When we examine what is really meant by test validity, we see a much more complex picture. We need to look beyond the simple statement, measuring what it claims to measure. There is much more to test validity.

What do you mean, Dr. Metric? What else does it mean other than ensuring that the test actually measures what it claims to measure?

Well, Susie, we are concerned with more than the test itself. We want to know how accurate the test scores are and whether the inferences or decisions made on the basis of the test scores are legitimate.

That sounds complicated, Dr. Metric. What do you mean by the inferences are decisions made based on the test scores?

It is not really that complicated, Susie. We often use tests to draw inferences or make a decision. For example, we often infer whether or not a student is proficient based on a test score. We might say, Sam received a score of 72 on a reading test and, from that, infer that he as proficient in reading. Or we might take Sam’s score of 72 on that reading test and decide to place them in a remedial reading program.

Yes, Dr. Metric, but what does making an inference or decision have to do with validity?

That is a very good question, Susie. Think of it this way– if we are going to draw inferences or make decisions based on the test, we really want to have evidence that proves that those

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inferences or decisions are legitimate. This is what modern approaches to validity are all about.

I understand, Dr. Metric. But what kind of evidence would we need to support the decisions or inferences?

There are many kinds of evidence that we should have to support our inferences and decisions. The specific types of evidence depend on the situation. Every situation is different. We will leave a detailed discussion about types of evidence for another time. But there are some common types of evidence we can talk about.

Types of evidence?

Yes, there are several common types of evidence. The first type of evidence is often called content validity. You must first clearly define the knowledge and skills you believe your test measures. To gather this evidence, we would first clearly and specifically define what we are measuring on the test. We might then support that by having experts in the content included on the test systematically review it. It would also be a good idea to review the literature to find evidence from prior research, supporting what we are measuring.

Dr. Metric, what other types of evidence can be collected to support test validity?

Another type of evidence that is often talked about in testing is construct validity. Construct validity covers a wide range of types of information that show whether or not the test is performing in ways that would be expected, based on how we have defined the construct it is measuring.

What are some examples of construct validity evidence?

Well, Susie, we might want to do some research on how the scorers on the test we are validating compared to scorers on similar tests. For example, if we have a reading test, we would expect students taking our test to get scored similar to those on other reading tests. We might also want to see if scores on our test predict some future performance. For example, if we made a good reading test, then our test should predict future behaviors that require reading skill. Perhaps we would collect evidence that students who scored highly on our reading test did better when they go to college in later years.

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Dr. Metric, what are other sources of evidence?

DR. METRIC: We should probably leave the discussion for another day when we have more time. I am hoping that from today’s discussion you understand the importance of test validity and understand that test validity is a process of collecting evidence from various sources to support the inferences and decisions you’re making on the basis of your test.

Ashford University – Ed Tech | Reliability

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Dr. Metric, what is test reliability, and why is it important?

I am glad you asked me this, Susie. Test reliability is one of the most important concepts in assessment. Test reliability refers to the consistency or stability of test scores.

What do you mean by consistency or stability?

Well, Susie, when we speak of consistency or stability of test scores, we are talking about the ability of an assessment to produce the same test score on two different occasions.

So Dr. Metric, are you saying that you want a test to produce the same test score if a person takes the test several times?

Yes, Susie. To the extent that the test produces the same score at two or more times, the test is reliable. We call this test reliability.

What if there are two or more different forms or versions of the test?

Yes, Susie. I see where you are going. It is also important that an assessment produce the same score regardless of which form of the test is taken. This is called parallel forms reliability.

So, Dr. Metric, if a test produces the same score when taken at different times and produces the same score for each version of the test, is it reliable?

Yes, Susie. But tests vary in their level of reliability. They can be seen as ranging from very reliable to not very reliable.

How do we know how reliable a test is, Dr. Metric?

This is a very good question, Susie. There are several statistical tests to find out the test reliability or the parallel forms reliability. There are even ways to estimate the reliability when you are not able to administer the test more than once or are unable to administer more than one form of the test.

Wow, Dr. Metric. That sounds hard.

Well, Susie, there is a bit of math involved, but we can see that it is not that hard in a later lesson. For now, you should know that most reliability indexes range from zero to one. The

higher the number the more reliable the test is. Usually, you want a test to have a reliability of 0.80 or above. When important decisions are made on the basis of the test, we like to see reliability closer to 0.90.

SUSIE: Thanks, Dr. Metric. You have been very helpful in assisting me in understanding the concept of test reliability.

Week 2 – Discussion 2

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Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

 Observation Plan

“According to child development specialists, one of the most accurate ways to learn about children is to observe them in daily activities” (Wortham, 2012, p. 117). Among the many types of qualitative and quantitative observation tools discussed in Chapter 4, anecdotal records, time sampling, and event sampling are widely used in schools and centers across the nation. Another commonly used form of observation is a running record. For this discussion, you will begin to develop a plan for the observation types you will use in your written assignment this week, which involves the observation of an actual child. Here is what you are asked to do:

• Qualitative Observation Tools: You will need to choose either an anecdotal record or running record as your form of qualitative observation to use. If you need more clarification about anecdotal and running records before choosing which tool you will use, review section 4.2 of the course text or read the optional resources Anecdotal Records (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and Running Records (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. For the qualitative observation tool you choose, address the following:
  • Describe this qualitative observation tool and explain its characteristics.
  • Discuss whether you will be using this tool to observe social/emotional development, physical development, cognitive development, or language development.
  • Explain the purpose for using this tool to assess your chosen domain.
• Quantitative Observation Tools: You will need to choose either time sampling or event sampling as your form of quantitative observation to use. If you need more clarification about anecdotal and running records before choosing which tool you will use, review section 4.3 of the course text or read the optional resources Time Sampling (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and Event Sampling (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. For the quantitative tool you choose, address the following:
  • Describe this quantitative observation tool and explain its characteristics.
  • Discuss whether you will be using this tool to observe social/emotional development, physical development, cognitive development, or language development.
  • Explain the purpose for using this tool to assess your chosen domain.
  • Discuss how you will eliminate bias from your observation. Be sure to specifically explain how you will use at least three of the nine strategies that are shared in section 4.1 of the course text for eliminating bias from observations.

Guided Response: Review several of your peers’ responses. Respond to at least two of your peers and share with them how using a functional behavioral assessment along with their chosen observation tool would allow them to better meet the needs of the child they are observing. In addition provide them with an additional developmental domain (i.e., cognitive, physical, etc.) that they might think about using for their observation this week and provide a rationale.

Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you. Remember, continuing to engage with peers and the instructor will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real-world experiences with this topic.

please put in you search bar

http://toddlers.ccdmd.qc.ca/observing/tally_sampling

http://toddlers.ccdmd.qc.ca/observing/abc_records