Detailed evidence is presented about the extent of generalization from high-stakes tests to other tests and about the instructional effects of high-stakes testing. Data are from grade 3 of a large, high-poverty urban district with large numbers of Black and Hispanic American students. The district's results in 1990 for two tests, designated Test B…

Previous studies of the validity of gains on high-stakes tests have compared trends in scores on a high-stakes test to trends on a lower-stakes test, such as NAEP. However, generalizability of gains is likely to be incomplete even when gains are meaningful because of differences in the inferences the two tests are designed to support. Therefore,…

Although high-stakes testing is now widespread, methods for evaluating the validity of gains obtained under high-stakes conditions are poorly developed. This report presents an approach for evaluating the validity of inferences based on score gains on high-stakes tests. It describes the inadequacy of traditional validation approaches for…

Given current high-stakes uses of tests, one of the most pressing and difficult problems confronting the field of measurement is to develop better methods for distinguishing between meaningful gains in performance and score inflation. This study explores the potential usefulness of adapting differential item functioning (DIF) techniques for this…