This technical report documents the processes and procedures implemented to support the Spring 2021 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) Phase I Pilot in English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Science assessments by NWEA® under the supervision of the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE). The technical report shows how the…

The Spring 2020 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) General Summative testing was cancelled due to COVID-19. This technical report documents the processes and procedures that had been implemented to support the Spring 2020 assessments prior to the cancellation. The following sections are presented in this technical report: (1)…

This technical report documents the processes and procedures implemented to support the Spring 2019 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) General Summative English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Science assessments by NWEA® under the supervision of the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE). The technical report shows how the…

In this article, E. Matthew Schulz responds to Adam Wyse's article, "Construct Maps as a Foundation for Standard Setting." In doing so, he asserts that one of the most important ideas in Wyse's work is that information used in standard setting needs to be better represented through the use of graphics. However, he's not…

The consequences associated with the uses and interpretations of scores for many credentialing testing programs have important implications for a range of stakeholders. Within licensure settings specifically, results from examination programs are often one of the final steps in the process of assessing whether individuals will be allowed to enter…

The traditional approach to scale modified-Angoff cut scores transfers the raw cuts to an existing raw-to-scale score conversion table. Under the traditional approach, cut scores and conversion table raw scores are not only seen as interchangeable but also as originating from a common scaling process. In this article, we propose an alternative…

Throughout the world, cut scores are an important aspect of a high-stakes testing program because they are a key operational component of the interpretation of test scores. One method for setting standards that is prevalent in educational testing programs--the Bookmark method--is intended to be a less cognitively complex alternative to methods…

This article describes a hybrid standard setting method that combines characteristics of the Angoff (1971) and Bookmark (Mitzel, Lewis, Patz & Green, 2001) methods. The proposed approach utilizes strengths of each method while addressing weaknesses. An ordered item booklet, with items sorted based on item difficulty, is used in combination…

College rankings create much talk and discussion in the higher education arena. This love/hate relationship has not necessarily resulted in better rankings, but rather, more rankings. This paper looks at some of the measures and pitfalls of the current rankings systems, and proposes areas for improvement through a better focus on teaching and…

Standard-setting methods are widely used to determine cut scores on a test that examinees must meet for a certain performance standard. Because standard setting is a measurement procedure, it is important to evaluate variability of cut scores resulting from the standard-setting process. Generalizability theory is used in this study to estimate…

Numerous studies have compared the Angoff standard-setting procedure to other standard-setting methods, but relatively few studies have evaluated the procedure based on internal criteria. This study uses a generalizability theory framework to evaluate the stability of the estimated cut score. To provide a measure of internal consistency, this…

Over the past twenty years in performance testing a specific item type with distinguishing characteristics has arisen time and time again. It's been invented independently by dozens of test development teams. And yet this item type is not recognized in the research literature. This article is an invitation to investigate the item type, evaluate…

This article reviews the empirical literature on 9 topics about the modified Angoff standard-setting method that have been studied repeatedly in the literature, while taking into consideration the methodological warrant for the findings on the topics. It concludes that we can be reasonably confident about selecting the appropriate number of judges…

In an Angoff standard setting procedure, judges estimate the probability that a hypothetical randomly selected minimally competent candidate will answer correctly each item in the test. In many cases, these item performance estimates are made twice, with information shared with the panelists between estimates. Especially for long tests, this…

In the traditional Angoff Standard Setting Method, experts are instructed to predict the possibility that a randomly selected, hypothetical minimally competent candidate will be able to answer each multiple choice question in the test correctly. These item performance estimates are averaged across panelists and aggregated to determine the minimum…