Consequential Validity Evidence

Consequential validity evidence provides information about the social consequences that result from using a test for a particular purpose. Various types of evidence can be presented to provide information [Page 372]about a test’s consequential validity; these types of evidence include subgroup scores, results of test-based classification decisions (e.g., instructional or curricular differences, negative social consequences within a peer group, differences in opportunity), and errors in test use. Evidence supporting consequential validity is typically used to demonstrate how intended outcomes have been achieved, a lack of differential impact across subgroups, and the presence of positive and absence of negative systemic effects resulting from the testing program.

In 1989, Samuel Messick introduced the idea of a consequential basis for validity; since that time, there has been a great ...