Which property best ensures a literacy assessment is trustworthy?

• A. Reliability
• B. Fairness
• C. Practicality
• D. Validity

Answer: (D)

Validity is what makes a literacy assessment trustworthy: it shows the test actually measures the literacy skills it’s meant to assess, like decoding, fluency, and comprehension, and that the scores reflect true reading ability. Validity is established when the content aligns with the literacy construct, when results correlate with other established literacy measures, and when the test can predict real reading performance.

Reliability means the results are consistent, but a test can be reliable without truly measuring the intended skills. Fairness matters to avoid bias across groups, but even a fair test needs to measure the right construct to be trustworthy. Practicality helps with how easy a test is to use, yet it doesn’t guarantee that it measures what it should. So, validity best ensures that the assessment truly reflects a student’s literacy ability.