To identify a procedure for establishing cut scores for National Occupational Competency Testing Institute examinations in Pennsylvania, an expert panel assessed written and performance test items for minimally competent workers. Recommendations about the number, type, and training of judges used were made. (Contains 18 references.) (SK)

In 1991 Pennsylvania began implementation of a direct writing assessment at the sixth-grade and ninth-grade levels. A total of 18,758 sixth graders and 16,575 ninth graders wrote a response to 1 of 9 prompts reflecting 3 modes of writing. A six-point holistic scale was used to score the papers, with two readers scoring each paper. A third reader,…

This guide begins with a series of questions and answers which introduce Pennsylvania's Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) Inventory as a 188-to 190-item multiple choice test for fifth, eighth, and eleventh grades. Items are selected from a 400-item bank using matrix sampling procedures. Test results are analyzed at the school level; no…