Estimating Critical Values for Strength of Alignment Among Curriculum, Assessments, and Instruction

Abstract

School accountability decisions based on standardized tests hinge on the degree of alignment of the test with the state’s standards documents. Yet, there exist no established criteria for judging strength of alignment. Previous measures of alignment among tests, standards, and teachers' instruction have yielded mixed results that are difficult to interpret and to compare across studies. This article reports findings from a simulation study to determine critical values for Porter’s alignment index, suitable for hypothesis testing at alpha levels of .05 and .10, as is familiar to many scholars. It then reexamines the results of previous alignment studies and demonstrates how these findings may be compared through the use of these critical values. The tables of critical values will be useful to researchers or policymakers who seek to judge strength of alignment of standards, assessments, and instruction. The article also describes directions for future research in establishing objective criteria for the interpretation of alignment indices.