Assessments in higher education healthcare programmes can be challenging because they not only need to be fair, valid, and transparent, but it is also necessary to gauge safety, practical skill competence, and professionalism. One way to help maximise validity in practical assessments is to utilise 'standard setting' which aims to set a fair 'cut…

Professional associations support a field in many ways, including professionalization, setting standards of practice, advocating for members and the industry it supports, and generating and sharing knowledge, research, and scholarship. While they provide ongoing education, they can play a more intentional role in professional preparation. This…

Proposed is a new method of standard setting referred to as response vector for mastery (RVM) method. Under the RVM method, the task of panelists that participate in the standard setting process does not involve conceptualization of a borderline examinee and probability judgments as it is the case with the Angoff and bookmark methods. Also, the…

With student and staff wellbeing a growing concern, several authors have asked whether existing data might help institutions provide better support. By analogy with the established field of Learning Analytics, this might involve identifying causes of stress, improving access to information for those who need it, suggesting options, providing rapid…

In this digital ITEMS module, Dr. Michael Bunch provides an in-depth, step-by-step look at how standard setting is done. It does not focus on any specific procedure or methodology (e.g., modified Angoff, bookmark, and body of work) but on the practical tasks that must be completed for any standard setting activity. Dr. Bunch carries the…

This chapter focuses on Education and Training 2020 (ET 2020), a significant European policy framework that provides an integrated approach to education and training. The chapter identifies the main governance mechanisms and policy instruments used by the European Union (EU) institutions within ET 2020 that lead to increased domestic policy…

The introduction of the CEFR was welcomed by researchers and practitioners in language education, given its potential for increasing transparency of test results and the meaningfulness of test scores. In this paper, I reflect on Glenn Fulcher's (2004, 2016) critical take on the use of the CEFR in the context of mapping (linking or aligning) test…

This article conceptualises the relationship between exam board insider research and the policy-making context in which they operate. Exam board researchers are constrained by commercial and political interests in disclosing their knowledge. and face pressures in disseminating research, but also find themselves working in contexts where calls to…

The redesigned "TOEIC Bridge"® tests are designed to measure the reading, listening, speaking, and writing proficiency of beginning to low-intermediate English learners in the context of everyday adult life. This report describes the comprehensive and multifaceted process used to enhance the meaningfulness of TOEIC Bridge test score…

Childhood trauma is an all-too common factor in the lives of students and their families. Schools and communities across America are more likely to serve families that have experienced trauma (Anderson, 2016). Although trauma or toxic episodes can impact families across the economic spectrum, children living in poverty, in socially isolated areas,…

Subscore reporting under item response theory models has always been a challenge partly because the test length of each subdomain is limited for precisely locating individuals on multiple continua. Diagnostic classification models (DCMs), providing a pass/fail decision and associated probability of pass on each subdomain, are promising…

The post-1980s changes in the global higher education landscape have triggered a burgeoning of incidents of academic corruption in higher education institutions. Since 2000, the discourse on how to combat academic corruption has gained traction in higher education and quality assurance is advanced as one of the strategies for fighting corruption…

The design and psychometric methodology of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is constantly evolving to meet the changing interests and demands stemming from a rapidly shifting educational landscape. NAEP has been built on strong research foundations that include conducting extensive evaluations and comparisons before new…

Through professional associations and graduate preparation programs, members of the student affairs profession identify, communicate, and reinforce professional standards to promote the scholarship of practice.

Large-scale performance assessment programs are a longstanding reform tool. However, standard setting can be a challenge for assessment programs that use primarily non-standardized assessments. The purpose of this paper is to extend this field of research by explaining the standard setting methodology applied to one more recent instantiation of a…