The Angoff standard setting method relies on content experts to review exam items and make judgments about the performance of the minimally proficient examinee. Unfortunately, at times content experts may have gaps in their understanding of specific exam content. These gaps are particularly likely to occur when the content domain is broad and/or…

This paper considers how to establish the minimum required level of professionally relevant oral communication ability in the medium of English for health practitioners with English as an additional language (EAL) to gain admission to practice in jurisdictions where English is the dominant language. A theoretical concern is the construct of…

In recent years educators have been utilizing judgmental methods, such as the ones advocated by Ebel and Angoff, to set minimum competency standards on test items. This study was designed to investigate the reliability and validity of these two procedures in setting minimum levels of performance on 175 vocational evaluator competency statements.…

Several methods for determining a passing score on an examination from individual raters' estimates of minimal pass levels were compared through simulation. The methods used differed in the weighting estimates for each item received in the aggregation process. Reasons why the simplest procedure is most preferred are discussed. (SLD)

Whether cutting score equivalents (CSEs) based on examinee performance are the same as CSEs based on expert judgment was examined using data from 3,262 examinees taking an internal medicine certification examination. CSEs produced by 40 physicians/experts were closer to the criteria than were standards derived from examinee performance. (SLD)

Methods for setting cutoff scores based on criterion performance, normative comparison, and absolute judgment were compared for scores on a multiple-choice psychology examination for 121 undergraduates and 251 undergraduates as a comparison group. All methods fell within the standard error of measurement. Implications of differences for decision…

Methods that might be used to establish standards of performance that will permit the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to classify candidate teachers as highly accomplished (worthy of National Board certification) or less than highly accomplished (not worthy of certification) are contrasted. Plans for research on these issues are…

Ten states participated in a cross-state scoring workshop in 1991, evaluating writing from elementary school, middle school, and high school students. Correlation of scores assigned by readers from one state with those from readers from another state were generally quite high. Implications for defining common standards are discussed. (SLD)