Early Validation Evidence of a Canadian Practitioner-Based Assessment of Physical Literacy in Physical Education: Passport for Life

Abstract

Physical and Health Education Canada has developed and implemented a formative, criterion-referenced, and practitioner-based national (Canadian) online educational assessment and support resource called Passport for Life (PFL). It was developed to support the awareness and advancement of physical literacy among PE students and teachers. PFL consists of three assessments for each of the four components (active participation, fitness, movement, and living skills). The aim of this study was to uncover initial validation evidence for its current uses using four of the five broad guidelines (content, response processes, internal structure, relations with other variables) for establishing satisfactory score validity as established by the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. We conducted a pilot test with 860 students in Grades 4 and 5 in 2013–2014. We analyzed these data, along with data collected across 2 years for Grades 3 to 6 (n = 1,036 in 2013–2014 and 1,254 in 2014–2015) and Grades 7 to 9 (n = 1,793 in 2013–2014 and 1,151 in 2014–2015). A portion (15 to 25%) of these students completed some of the assessments a second time in each of these years. Validation evidence included the development of PFL by a number of domain experts, the nature and format of the components and scales relative to existing literature and evidence, the administrative procedures to guide teachers to implement the assessments, the alignment of items with each component construct and scale, teacher feedback, and positive and significant relations and temporal (predictive) consistency over the 2 years within and across scales and components. These results provide general support for the PFL and its intended use and highlight several cautions and recommendations. 

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