Multiple Measures Essay

311 Words2 Pages
Multiple measures refers to “using multiple sources and types of relevant information about persons or programs when making educational decisions” (Brookhart, 2009). There are many different viewpoints about what constitutes multiple measures and the reasoning behind them. From a teaching perspective, multiple measures are important in order to achieve validity. Brookhart supports that multiple measures are important in enhancing construct validity. It is fair to say that one cannot gain a complete understanding of a student’s capabilities from the results of only one test (Brookhart, 2009). This is where multiple measures comes in and allows teachers to make assumptions and conclusions based on more than one test result, hence achieving a more valid and reliable conclusion on students abilities. Through multiple measures Brookhart argues that we are also able to achieve decision validity (Brookhart, 2009). This allows teachers to determine if a student is displaying difficulties in all aspects of study or in one particular area. It is not fair to conclude that because a student exhibits difficulties with one area of learning that he or she will exhibit the same difficulty in other areas, in fact a student who displays difficult writing or reading may in fact excel in other academic areas such as mathematics. Other scholars such as Bernhardt argue that multiple measures is important as student achievement results can be explained by other factors (Bernhardt, 2002). Bernhardt believes that there are four components which should be discussed when referring to multiple measures; student learning, demographics, perceptions and school processes (Bernhardt, 2002). Bernhardt believed that not only will multiple measures enhance student learning, but also it will provide teachers and schools with the information necessary to improve overall learning. McMillan
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