The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on medical education by comparing USMLE Step 1 first attempt pass rates of examinees from US/Canadian schools in Doctor of Medicine (MD) programs from 2020-2022 to prior years' pass first attempt pass rates (2017-2019). Additionally, the effectiveness of the…

This article studied two methods to detect mode effects in two credentialing exams. In Study 1, we used a "modal scale comparison approach," where the same pool of items was calibrated separately, without transformation, within two TC cohorts (TC1 and TC2) and one OP cohort (OP1) matched on their pool-based scale score distributions. The…

Teachers are one of the largest licensed groups in the United States, and nearly all teachers are required to pass a licensure exam before entering classroom practice (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). However, "questions abound as to those exams' quality, design, and purpose: To what extent do they actually assess important professional…

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, at-home testing has become a popular delivery mode in many testing programs. When programs offer at-home testing to expand their service, the score comparability between test takers testing remotely and those testing in a test center is critical. This article summarizes statistical procedures that could be…

Purpose: ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can solve multiple complex tasks. ChatGPT-4 can facilitate educational empowerment in China through technology to understand and generate Chinese text. Although ChatGPT's benefits have been widely discussed, its educational capabilities have not been systematically…

Many organizations utilize some form of automation in the test assembly process; either fully algorithmic or heuristically constructed. However, one issue with heuristic models is that when the test assembly problem changes the entire model may need to be re-conceptualized and recoded. In contrast, mixed-integer programming (MIP) is a mathematical…

Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, many credentialing organizations have incorporated online remote administration of their examinations to enable continuity of their programs. This paper describes a research study examining several high stakes credentialing examination programs that utilized mixed delivery modes, including online remote…

Credentialing examination developers rely on task (job) analyses for establishing inventories of task and knowledge areas in which competency is required for safe and successful practice in target occupations. There are many ways in which task-related information may be gathered from practitioner ratings, each with its own advantage and…

Research about repeated testing has revealed that retaking the same exam form generally does not advantage or disadvantage failing candidates in selected response-style credentialing exams. Feinberg, Raymond, and Haist (2015) found a contributing factor to this phenomenon: people answering items incorrectly on both attempts give the same incorrect…

As attacks on teacher education mount, teacher educators have been urged to take a more active part in policy deliberations. Yet the question of how teacher educators get their voices heard in policy contexts that are not receptive to their expertise remains underinvestigated. This qualitative case study addresses this gap by exploring the work of…

This study explored the best testing practices for the NC Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) to determine preparedness for entry-level law enforcement officers. The researcher implemented a mixed-methods approach to answer five research questions based on collected historical data from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, the North Carolina…

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of collaborative learning on learners' communicative strategies in English for specific purpose (ESP) tour guide training course. The 12-week study was conducted using a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test and post-test, following the instruction of twelve topics in the ESP language…

Using qualitative content analysis (Cohen et al., 2007), we examined the expectations of states in the United States regarding program evaluation content for school counselor licensure. Results show that 43 states maintain some form of program evaluation expectations for licensure, up from the 19 identified by Trevisan (2000). Twenty-eight states…

The partnership model in which universities collaborate with community colleges for the prelicensure Bachelor of Science (BSN) education has been identified by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) as one of five viable academic progression models for nursing. The current literature lacks evidence on the success of these academic progression…

In this paper we consider whether experience gained on the job through an internship results in knowledge that can help with passing the CPA exam. It would seem that a candidate for the CPA exam would be better prepared if they had the combination of education and practical experience. We examine the CPA exam performance of 72 graduate students…