Educational assessment and, more broadly, educational research in the United States have entered into an era characterized by a dramatic increase in the prevalence and importance of test score use in accountability systems. This volume covers a selection of contemporary issues about testing science and practice that impact the nation's public…

Several major types of environmental standards (design, performance, exposure, safety, and behavioral) are discussed, and their points of contact with educational standards are reviewed. Some areas of judgment are common to both standard-setting processes, and experiences in the environmental area can be extended to the educational arena. (SLD)

The concept of due process provides an analogy for the process of standard setting that emphasizes many of the procedural and substantive elements of the process over technical and statistical concerns. Surely such concerns can and should continue to be addressed. However, a sound rationale for standard setting does not rest on this foundation.…

A newly developed performance standard-setting procedure, termed iterative judgmental policy capturing (JPC), is applicable to assessments composed of distinct multidimensional exercises. The procedure is described, and results are reported from the application of JPC in a study involving a panel of 20 teachers and 6 performance exercises. (SLD)

A performance-standard setting procedure termed judgmental policy capturing (JPC) and its application are described. A study involving 12 panelists demonstrated the feasibility of the JPC method for setting performance standards for classroom teachers seeking certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. (SLD)

Eight criteria developed by the National Forum on Assessment (Washington, DC) as guidelines for evaluating existing and proposed assessment systems at any level are listed. Criteria call for clear definitions and fair assessments to assist educators and policymakers in improving instruction. Continuous review and improvement are recommended. (SLD)

This paper reports on a newly designed judgmental method for setting test performance standard that: (1) overcome many of the practical and psychometric problems associated with the Angoff and Ebel methods; (2) can be used to set multiple cut points on a score scale; (3) may be readily and efficiently implemented with assessments that use…

This Louisiana System for Teaching and Learning Assessment and Review (STAR) illustrates conceptual, methodological, and social/political issues emerging when the decision-making model used to make teacher certification decisions does not fit the assumptions of the measurement system used to collect the data. (SLD)

This article provides a framework for the rest of the articles in this special issue comparing the utility of three standard-setting methods with complex performance assessments. The context of the standard setting study is described, and the methods are outlined. (SLD)

Setting standards on performance measures is discussed in the context of the State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS) initiative supported by the Council of Chief State School Offices. The usual item-based methods for standard setting, the methods developed by Nedelsky (1954), Angoff (1971), and Ebel (1972), were developed…

A qualitative case study involving five educational institutions assessed the use of competency testing as a prerequisite for high school graduation, criterion for admission into college, criterion for teacher certification, and statewide assessment tool. Focus was on persons and processes involved in setting educational standards associated with…

A review of educational measurement journals indicates that the decade of the 1970s and up until about 1984 was the time when substantial numbers of studies dealt with criterion-referenced measurement, and the era in which criterion-referenced measurement advances were made. Although there appears to be less interest in publications today, a…