This quantitative study investigated the relationship between institutional control and NCLEX first-time pass rates during 2017-2021 for BSN, ADN, and LVN programs in the United States while controlling for school and program level characteristics. The study included five years of data gathered from nursing regulatory agencies and the Integrated…

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…

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified concerns regarding the lagging proportion of Hispanic Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). This report contrasts the CPA exam success of candidates from the regional branches of one large university system's Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and non-Hispanic-serving institutions. Examination statistics during…

Previous research on rapid responding tends to implicitly consider examinees as either engaging in solution behavior or purely guessing. However, particularly in a high-stakes testing context, examinees perceiving that they are running out of time may consider the remaining items for less time than necessary to provide a fully informed response,…

This article explores whether states' add-on endorsement policies provide shortcuts to early childhood education licensure. The following questions are pursued: What requirements must licensed teachers meet to add an ECE endorsement? What data do states report on the number of add-ons awarded, in total and in ECE, yearly? What terms do states use…

Adequate education experiences and passing licensure examinations are imperative to professional entry and the career success of aspiring barbers. This improvement science initiative addressed low passing rates on the North Carolina Apprentice Barber Licensure Exam (NC ABLE). The initiative aimed to equip students with the knowledge and skills to…

This paper reports the findings of a Canada based multi-institutional study designed to investigate the relationships between admissions criteria, in-program assessments, and performance on licensing exams. The study's objective is to provide valuable insights for improving educational practices across different institutions. Data were gathered…

Principal preparation programs face the unique challenge of preparing social justice leaders who are equipped to dismantle the many inequities in K-12 schools. In 2017 California's credential requirements for school administrators (e.g., principals) changed significantly with the adoption of new state standards for administrators and the addition…

Specialists in blood banking help ensure the stability and safety of the blood supply needed to support the transfusion therapy needs of healthcare providers. Examples of their work include employing advanced procedures to determine blood types, identify antibodies, and consult on medical prescriptions for blood products. They also serve as…

This study investigated the impact of In-house Licensure Examination for Teachers review sessions on the performance of pre-service teachers at Notre Dame of Marbel University. Employing a quantitative descriptive-correlational research design, the research analyzed the pre-test, post-test, and the Notre Dame Educational Association mock board…

Preparing for high-stakes licensure exams can be daunting for teacher candidates and particularly intimidating for aspiring teachers who speak English as a second language, those with exceptionalities, and members of historically marginalized communities (Petchauer, 2015; Nettles et al., 2011; Tyler, 2011). University-based teacher educators are…

Many students report increasing test anxiety in the months before taking the national social work licensure exam. We evaluate whether adding a test-anxiety-reduction module to an online exam preparation course reduces MSW students' test anxiety. A non-equivalent pretest-posttest control-group design was used to compare 42 students who did not…

Rasch common-item equating is often used in high-stakes testing to maintain equivalent passing standards across test administrations. If unaddressed, item parameter drift poses a major threat to the accuracy of Rasch common-item equating. We compared the performance of well-established and newly developed drift detection methods in small and large…

Objective: Our master's program in biostatistics requires a qualifying examination (QE). A curriculum review led us to question whether to replace a closed-book format with an open-book one. Our goal was to improve the QE. Methods: This is a case study and commentary, where we describe the evolution of the QE, both in its goals and its content.…

Drasgow, Levine, and Zickar (1996) suggested a statistic based on the Neyman-Pearson lemma (e.g., Lehmann & Romano, 2005, p. 60) for detecting preknowledge on a known set of items. The statistic is a special case of the optimal appropriateness indices of Levine and Drasgow (1988) and is the most powerful statistic for detecting item…