Test development procedures and six methods for determining cut-off scores are briefly described. An alternate method, appropriate when the test developer also determines the cut-off score, is suggested. Unlike other methods, the standard is set during the test development stage. Its computations are intelligible to nonstatistically-oriented…

Confusion in the terminology used in criterion-referenced measurement specifications and development and standard setting and the attendant role of cut-off scores are shown to need practical clarification through psychometric research on test applications and consequences. (CM)