Contextual Barriers to Validity in Adaptive Instruction and Assessment

The value and validity within highly personalized programs can either be strengthened or diminished by variability in implementation, environment, and interpretation. Developers of adaptive programs have an opportunity – a responsibility – to provide transparency and insights on how variation plays a part in the value and validity of the program. This paper describes the impact variability can have on value perceptions and the resulting degradation of trust in results from an adaptive assessment used as part of an instructional program. Described is the process used to redesign score reports that considers the context of the administration and resulting interpretations. The paper then presents a theoretical challenge to the adaptive nature of instructionally situated assessments intended to reflect ultimate use.