Validity

The most important criterion for any test, classroom or standardized, is validity. The key question for determining validity asks: Is the test really measuring what it is supposed to measure?

Factors that might affect the test's validity for measuring student learning:

• Test administration
• Test anxiety
• Too few items to measure an objective
• Lack of motivation
• Lack of experience with the type of test
• Test format
• Language bias
• Cultural bias
• Lack of correspondence with what a student was taught
• Lack of correspondence with how a student was taught

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