Chapter 3: Making Valid Instructional Decisions: Teaching Educators to Consider Validity Evidence¹

Teachers make countless instructional decisions daily in the course of their work. They must decide whether to continue to the next item on the instructional plan, or whether they must revisit current or previous content. They must decide which activities and assignments will best support students’ developing understanding of the content taught. When unexpected instructional opportunities present themselves during class, teachers must decide whether to pursue them and capitalize on the teachable moment, or to avoid them lest they sideline planned instruction or unnecessarily confuse some students. Classroom assessments (both formal and informal) play a key role in helping teachers make many of these daily decisions. However, in spite of the importance of assessments for daily decision making, teachers are often ill-equipped with the technical knowledge required to ensure their assessments are adequately constructed.