| Abstract: | Implications of the multiple‐use of accountability assessments for the process of validation are examined. Multiple‐use refers to the simultaneous use of results from a single administration of an assessment for its intended use and for one or more additional uses. A theoretical discussion of the issues for validation which emerge from multiple‐use is provided focusing on the increased stakes that result from multiple‐use and the need to consider the interactions that may take place between multiple‐uses. To further explore this practice, an empirical study of the multiple‐use of the Education Quality and Accountability Office Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics, a mandatory assessment administered in Ontario, Canada, is presented. Drawing on data gathered in an in‐depth case study, practices associated with two of the multiple‐uses of this assessment are considered and evidence of ways these two uses interact is presented. Given these interactions, the limitations of an argument‐based approach to validation for this instance of multiple‐use are demonstrated. Some ways that the process of validation might better address the practice of multiple‐use are suggested and areas for further investigation of this frequently occurring practice are discussed. |
