Assessment literacy for teachers: Making a case for the study of test validity

Assessment is an everyday activity for teachers throughout the United States. Unfortunately, many teachers enter the profession with little or no training in educational assessment. Thus, there is some concern among teacher educators that assessment illiteracy is a significant barrier to appropriate decision making in the classroom. A case is made for the inclusion of assessment course work as a necessary component of the teacher education curriculum, through a demonstration of the relationship between test validity and the law. Teacher education programs would be well served to frame assessment issues such as test validity as more than psychometric esoterica.