In order to accurately assess the English language proficiency of special populations of English learners, student assessment programs must maintain the comparability of standard and modified assessment formats, allowing for equivalent inferences to be made across student classifications. However, given the typically small size of special…

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…

In the Angoff standard setting procedure, subject matter experts (SMEs) estimate the probability that a hypothetical randomly selected minimally competent candidate will answer correctly each item comprising the test. In many cases, these item performance estimates are made twice, with information shared with SMEs between estimates. This…

In the traditional Angoff Standard Setting Method, experts are instructed to predict the possibility that a randomly selected, hypothetical minimally competent candidate will be able to answer each multiple choice question in the test correctly. These item performance estimates are averaged across panelists and aggregated to determine the minimum…

Standard-setting research has yielded a rich array of more than 50 standard-setting procedures, but practitioners are likely to be confused about which to use. By synthesizing the accumulated research on standard setting and progress monitoring, this study developed a three-dimensional taxonomy for conceptualizing and operationalizing the various…

An analysis was made of the cognitive processes that support the judgments made in standard setting activities. These processes were conceived as having two components: forming the domain needed to pass the test and identifying the criterion level of performance to pass the test. In fact, these processes are interactive, and were separated for the…

Problems inherent in setting standards/passing scores for criterion-referenced tests are discussed; and traditional methods of setting standards are reviewed. Three acceptable methods based on judgments of questions are discussed; their authors include, respectively: (1) W. H. Angoff (1971); (2) R. L. Ebel (1972); and (3) L. Nedelsky (1954). (SLD)

This paper reports the results of using several alternative methods of setting cut scores. The methods used were: (1) a variation of the Angoff method (1971); (2) a variation of the borderline group method; and (3) an advanced impact method (G. Dillon, 1996). The results discussed are from studies undertaken to set the cut scores for fourth grade…

While standard setting procedures are typically discussed in terms of deriving a reasonable cutting score for a given form of a test, the situation may be structured such that the standard has been mandated without regard to the test form itself. This situation may result either through legislative or policy actions and may be a fait accompli by…

Research indicating that different cut-off points result from the use of different standard-setting techniques leaves decision makers with a disturbing dilemma: Which standard-setting method is best? This investigation of the reliability and validity of 10 different standard-setting approaches was designed to provide information that might help…

The ways in which standard-setting procedures are carried out in the medical specialty certification area are described. Three experiments that have been conducted with alternatives to currently used normative standards are examined, and reasons why these experiments have had limited success are suggested in this speech. The defensibility of…

Evaluated Angoff ratings from eight different occupational licensing examinations through generalizability theory to estimate the optimal number of raters. Results indicate that approximately 10 to 15 raters is an optimal target range. (SLD)

When one wants to set data reliability standards for a class of scientific inquiries or when one needs to compare and select among many different kinds of data with reliabilities that are crucial to a particular research undertaking, then one needs a single reliability coefficient that is adaptable to all or most situations. Work toward this goal…

Using meta-analysis, this research takes a look at studies included in a meta-analysis by R. Jaeger (1989) that compared the cut score set by one standard setting method with that set by another. This meta-analysis looks beyond Jaeger's studies to select 10 from the research literature. Each compared at least two types of standard setting method.…

Judgmental standard setting methods, such as the W. H. Angoff (1971) method, use item performance estimates as the basis for determining the minimum passing score (MPS). Therefore, the accuracy of these item performance estimates is crucial to the validity of the resulting MPS. Recent researchers, (L. A. Shephard 1994; J. Impara, 1997) have called…