Cut scores are used in a variety of circumstances to aid in decision making through the establishment of a clear cut line between adjacent categories. Community colleges regularly use cut scores on placement tests to decide the appropriate course for each beginning student: the first college-level course or a developmental course, depending on…

This paper explores the views of nursing and medical domain experts in considering the standards for a specific-purpose English language screening test, the Occupational English Test (OET), for professional registration for immigrant health professionals. Since individuals who score performances in the test setting are often language experts…

This dissertation describes a design for training, in accordance with probability judgment heuristics principles, for the Angoff standard setting method. The new training with instruction, practice, and feedback tailored to the probability judgment heuristics principles was called the Heuristic training and the prevailing Angoff method training…

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…

The purpose of this report is to summarize the activities of the standard-setting meeting for the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA) in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics (Grades 3-8 and High School), science (Grades 4, 8, and High School), and social studies (High School). The NYSAA standard-setting meeting was held on June 11…

This paper addresses issues raised in two recent papers published in this journal about the UK "Association of Business Schools' Journal Quality Guide (ABS Guide)". While much of the debate about journal rankings in general, and the "ABS Guide" in particular, has focused on the construction, power and (mis)use of these…

At a minimum, employers rely on career and technical education (CTE) and workforce training systems to supply workers able to perform in their jobs. In CTE classes that seek to integrate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts, it falls to the instructors to design and sequence the learning experiences that will promote…

In 2005, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) identified the "10 Essential Elements of a Statewide Longitudinal Data System" to provide a roadmap for state policymakers as they built statewide longitudinal data systems designed to collect, store, & use longitudinal data to improve student achievement & outcomes. In 2007, the federal America COMPETES…

A challenge gift helps fundraisers reach goals by stimulating multiple aspects of a fundraising program. First, the message of a challenge grabs the attention of prospects and generally generates excitement beyond the case for support. It also commands the attention of the prospect managers in an organization, particularly when the challenge…

Inconsistency in the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) has led to dissatisfaction amongst students and is an issue across the Higher Education sector. This paper outlines research undertaken in one faculty within one university to ascertain staff and student views on minimum standards within the VLE; how the VLE could reduce student…

Principals who are strong, effective, responsive leaders help to inspire and enhance the abilities of their teachers and other school staff to do excellent work. Such principals also tend to retain great teachers and create opportunities for them to take on new leadership roles. This leads to the following key question: What can state policymakers…

Based on Maryland's 2017-2018 Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) results, nearly half of all entering kindergarten children show foundational skills indicating they are fully ready for kindergarten, more than a third are approaching readiness, and 18% have emerging readiness skills. Results for the 2017-2018 school year show a slight increase…

Chris Franklin is Senior Lecturer, Undergraduate Coordinator, and Lothar Tresp Honoratus Honors Professor of Statistics at the University of Georgia. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and received the USCOTS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. This interview took place via email on August 16, 2013-October 9, 2013. Franklin…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a new statistic to capture the ratio of equitable student outcomes given equitable inputs. Given the fact that finance structures should be aligned to outcome standards according to judicial interpretation, a ratio of outputs to inputs, or "equity ratio," is introduced to discern if conclusions can be…

Considerable research about standard setting has revolved around a U.S.-centric policy context. That is, over the past decade, conclusions about thought processes and the interaction of education policy and panelists' judgments have been based on assumptions of comparable policy settings. However, whether these assumptions generalize to other…