What is the difference between 'verification' and 'validation' in assessment context?

• A. Verification checks if students demonstrate instructed skills; validation ensures the assessment measures what it intends to measure and is reliable.
• B. Verification is about attendance, validation about grades.
• C. Verification concerns data entry; validation concerns rubric design.
• D. They are the same thing.

Answer: (A)

In assessment, verification is about gathering evidence that students actually demonstrate the skills or outcomes that were taught. It asks whether the student has performed the specific tasks and shown the instructed abilities.

Validation, by contrast, looks at the assessment itself: does it measure the intended construct, and is the measurement reliable and fair? It’s about the quality of the instrument—whether its content aligns with what it aims to measure and whether the results are dependable across occasions and raters.

So the best choice reflects that verification is about demonstrating taught skills, while validation concerns whether the assessment measures the right thing and yields consistent, trustworthy results. The other options mix things like attendance, grades, data handling, or claim they’re the same, which don’t capture the distinct roles of verification and validation.