Research Findings: Australian state and federal governments have increasingly recognized early childhood as a critical period for investing in interventions. At the same time, a number of organizational, structural, and environmental responses have been put in place to build the capacity of communities to better support children and their…

On March 6, 2009, the APA Model Licensure Act Task Force released its second draft of the policy document known as the proposed "Model Act for State Licensure of Psychologists". This policy document serves as guidance to state legislatures for how they should set up their psychology licensing laws. The general expectations promoted in the model…

Education in the United States has reached yet another critical milestone on the way toward standardization. On June 1, 2009, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) announced that 46 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories agreed to join an…

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…

The International Civil Aviation Association has developed a set of Language Proficiency Requirements (LPRs) and a Language Proficiency Rating Scale, which seeks to define proficiency in the language needed for aviation purposes at six different levels. Pilots, air traffic controllers and aeronautical station operators are required to achieve at…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the connotation of performance labels used in standard setting. For example, do the performance labels "basic," "proficient," and "advanced" hold different connotations than "limited knowledge," "satisfactory," and "distinguished"? If these…

Childhood overweight and obesity is a public health concern not just because of its growing prevalence but also for its serious and lasting health consequences. Though height and weight measures are easy to obtain and New Hampshire Head Start sites measure height and weight of their enrollees, there are numerous challenges related to accurate…

The 2001 reauthorization of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)," represented a turning point in federal policy for the education of English Learners (ELs) in U.S. public schools. At the center of the changes in the 2001 reauthorization of the "ESEA" lie the English language proficiency (ELP) standards. These ELP…

The Angoff method is a widely used procedure for setting pass scores in vocational examinations, in which the awarders estimate the performance of minimally competent candidates (MCCs) on each test item. Within the context of some UK vocational examinations, the procedure consists of two stages: after making the first round of estimates, awarders…

Background: To establish credible, defensible and acceptable passing scores for written tests is a challenge for health profession educators. Angoff procedures are often used to establish pass/fail decisions for written and performance tests. In an Angoff procedure judges' expertise and professional skills are assumed to influence their ratings of…

Teaching for social justice in a standards-driven social studies classroom can be challenging. However, the authors believe that there does not have to be a choice between meeting standards versus meeting the needs of students. Through semistructured interviews with four current social studies practitioners, the authors found similarities in the…

As inclusive practices and accountability continue to shape American education, special education and general education leaders will be challenged to join together in solving the problems of practice inherent in a diverse, complex, high-stakes educational environment. Professional standards provide a policy framework for the knowledge and skills,…

From 2007 to 2008, CILT (Centre for Information for Language Teachers) developed a set of National Occupational Standards for Intercultural Working in the UK. This paper reports on three questions arising from the development project: how these standards are distinctive from others, how they realise intercultural competence and how they meet…

In recent years, procedures have been established in Flanders for "Prior Learning Assessment" (PLA) outside the formal learning circuit, of which the portfolio is a regular component. In order to maximize the possibilities of acknowledgement of prior learning assessment, the Flemish government is looking for a set of common criteria and…

In the criterion-based clinical assessment context, and more broadly, examination resits continue to present an ongoing dilemma to educators. The number of students involved is generally a small percentage of the cohort, but it is precisely with these students that institutions bear a heavy responsibility in ensuring they reach a sufficiently high…