In this paper we describe content focused, practical procedures to establish benchmarked performance standards for educational and other tests. To implement our procedures, we identify one or more external benchmark (e.g., NAEP or PISA performance levels, college and career readiness benchmarks); link to the external benchmarks to locate those…

Setting standards and cutoff scores is essential to any measurement and evaluation practice. Two evaluation frameworks, norm-referenced (NR) and criterion-referenced (CR), have often been used for setting standards. Although setting fitness standards based on the NR evaluation is relatively easy as long as a nationally representative sample can be…

This update addresses major issues surrounding educational standards for all subject areas. It provides a review and analysis of standards and benchmarks in the content areas of science, mathematics, history, geography, reading, and writing. Also included is an analysis and description of the knowledge and skills considered important for the…