Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Education

Pub Date

5-2023

Abstract

Evidence-based assessment (EBA) requires that investigators employ scientific theories and research findings to guide decisions about what domains to measure, how and when to measure them, and how to make decisions and interpret results. To implement EBA, investigators need high-quality assessment tools along with evidence-based processes. We advance EBA in three sections in this article. First, we describe an empirically grounded framework, the Operations Triad Model (OTM), to inform EBA decision-making in the articulation of relevant educational theory. Originally designed for interpreting mental health assessments, we describe features of the OTM that facilitate its fusion with educational theory, namely its falsifiability. In turn, we cite evidence to support the OTM's ability to inform hypothesis generation and testing, study design, instrument selection, and measurement validation. Second, we describe quality indicators for interpreting psychometric data about measurement tools, which informs both the development and selection of measures and the process of measurement validation. Third, we apply the OTM and EBA to research in special education in two contexts: (a) empirical research for causal explanation and (b) implementation science research. We provide open data resources to advance measurement validation and conclude with future directions for research.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402923117109

Associated Materials

Supplementary material can be found at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402923117109

Journal Title

Exceptional Children

Volume

89

Issue

4

First Page

467

Publisher Statement

© The Author(s) 2023. Reposted with permission of the authors.

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