Reliability and Validity of International Large-Scale Assessment

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction to Reliability and Validity of International Large-Scale Assessment

   • Hans Wagemaker

   Pages 1-5Open Access

3. Study Design and Evolution, and the Imperatives of Reliability and Validity

   • Hans Wagemaker

   Pages 7-21Open Access

4. Framework Development in International Large-Scale Assessment Studies

   • John Ainley, Wolfram Schulz

   Pages 23-36Open Access

5. Assessment Content Development

   • Liz Twist, Julian Fraillon

   Pages 37-59Open Access

6. Questionnaire Development in International Large-Scale Assessment Studies

   • Wolfram Schulz, Ralph Carstens

   Pages 61-83Open Access

7. Translation: The Preparation of National Language Versions of Assessment Instruments

   • Paulína Koršňáková, Steve Dept, David Ebbs

   Pages 85-111Open Access

8. Sampling, Weighting, and Variance Estimation

   • Sabine Meinck

   Pages 113-129Open Access

9. Quality Control During Data Collection: Refining for Rigor

   • Lauren Musu, Sandra Dohr, Andrea Netten

   Pages 131-150Open Access

10. Post-collection Data Capture, Scoring, and Processing

    • Alena Becker

    Pages 151-167Open Access

11. Technology and Assessment

    • Heiko Sibberns

    Pages 169-186Open Access

12. Ensuring Validity in International Comparisons Using State-of-the-Art Psychometric Methodologies

    • Matthias Von Davier, Eugenio Gonzalez, Wolfram Schulz

    Pages 187-219Open Access

13. Publications and Dissemination

    • Seamus Hegarty, Sive Finlay

    Pages 221-230Open Access

14. Consequential Validity: Data Access, Data Use, Analytical Support, and Training

    • Sabine Meinck, Eugenio Gonzalez, Hans Wagemaker

    Pages 231-244Open Access

15. Using IEA Studies to Inform Policymaking and Program Development: The Case of Singapore

    • Hui Leng Ng, Chew Leng Poon, Elizabeth Pang

    Pages 245-259Open Access

16. Understanding the Policy Influence of International Large-Scale Assessments in Education

    • David Rutkowski, Greg Thompson, Leslie Rutkowski

    Pages 261-277Open Access

This open access book describes and reviews the development of the quality control mechanisms and methodologies associated with IEA’s extensive program of educational research. A group of renowned international researchers, directly involved in the design and execution of IEA’s international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), describe the operational and quality control procedures that are employed to address the challenges associated with providing high-quality, comparable data. 

Throughout the now considerable history of IEA’s international large-scale assessments, establishing the quality of the data has been paramount. Research in the complex multinational context in which IEA studies operate imposes significant burdens and challenges in terms of the methodologies and technologies that have been developed to achieve the stated study goals. The demands of the twin imperatives of validity and reliability must be satisfied in the context of multiple and diverse cultures, languages, orthographies, educational structures, educational histories, and traditions. 

Readers will learn about IEA’s approach to such challenges, and the methods used to ensure that the quality of the data provided to policymakers and researchers can be trusted. An often neglected area of investigation, namely the consequential validity of ILSAs, is also explored, examining issues related to reporting, dissemination, and impact, including discussion of the limits of interpretation. 

The final chapters address the question of the influence of ILSAs on policy and reform in education, including a case study from Singapore, a country known for its outstanding levels of achievement, but which nevertheless seeks the means of continual improvement, illustrating best practice use of ILSA data.

• Open Access
• International large-scale assessments
• Educational policy
• IEA
• Comparative education
• Educational measurement
• International education
• Research methods in international large-scale assessment
• Comparative Studies of Student Achievement
• ILSA
• IEA’s approach to international large-scale assessments

• Newlands, Wellington, New Zealand

  Hans Wagemaker

Dr Hans Wagemaker was the executive director of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement for 17 years, responsible for the management of all IEA international research and assessment projects and activities. He helped develop IEA’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and oversaw the development and expansion of IEA’s training and capacity building activities in low to middle income countries, and IEA’s educational consultancy services. Together with Educational Testing Services (ETS), he established the IEA Research Institute (IERI), where he continues to serve as a Board member.
Dr Wagemaker was a Senior Manager Research and International with the Ministry of Education, New Zealand, and represented New Zealand’s interests in the APEC Education Forum, UNESCO’s commissions, and the OECD, CERI, and the Education Governing Board. He has consulted for the Inter American Development Bank and UNESCO and worked extensively with the World Bank to advance a common interest in the uses of assessment for improving educational systems in developing countries. Most recently Dr Wagemaker served as an advisor to the Minister of Education for the Sultanate of Oman. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Center for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE) for the government of New South Wales, Australia, the H Institute, Beirut, Lebanon, and continues in an advisory role with the IEA.
Dr Wagemaker holds BA and MA degrees from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and a PhD from the University of Illinois, where he was awarded a University Fellowship and, in 2009, the College of Education’s Distinguished Alumni Award.