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Author(s): Godwin Matthew Sabboh, Janet Arogundade.

Volume/Issue: Volume 6, Issue 1 (2026)

Page No: 1-14

Journal: British Journal of Contemporary Education (BJCE)

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Abstract:

Before the advent of educational standards, the rights and responsibilities of test takers were somehow oblique. This has led to a lot of arguments among educators, test administrators, academics, and others on how test takers should comport themselves and what they are expected to know before, during, and after taking any test and/or examination. It is against this background that this paper examined the rights and responsibilities of test takers and the introspection of Messick and Kane’s approaches to validity: the untold stories. The crux of this paper is that test takers are expected to know and identify their rights and responsibilities in any test they take in order to forestall any misconceptions about the misuse of their test scores. The 1999 and 2014 standards shed more light on the rights and responsibilities of test takers, which stood as a premise upon which many test takers, test administrators, and educators lay their claims on the use and interpretation of test scores. The paper also examined the intersection between test validity theories and the ethical imperatives that govern test use. Drawing upon Messick’s unified theory of validity which situates construct validity as encompassing consequential and value implications, and Kane’s argument-based approach to validation. The paper also explores how these frameworks articulate and support the rights and responsibilities of test takers. The study expatiates how fairness, access, transparency, and accountability are embedded within or marginalized by dominant validity frameworks using the conceptual-analytical method. It also examines the “untold stories” of test takers, most especially those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds whose experiences reveal the practical challenges of operationalizing fairness in high-stakes testing. This paper contributes immensely to the ongoing conversation on shared vision for equitable and valid educational assessment practices. The paper recommended that the rights of test takers must be recognized, and they must be treated with courtesy and respect, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or other personal characteristics, as this would give room for fairness and inclusiveness in the use and interpretation of test scores.

Keywords:

Rights, Responsibilities, Test Takers, Validity, Educational measurement.

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