RESOURCES

At this stage, it is important to revisit the now-vetted set of exam items and calculate test-takers’ final exam scores efficiently and accurately. Stage 6 of the Assessment Life Cycle involves calculating test-takers’ scores on the exam they completed and generating reports that will communicate these results in the clearest and most valid manner possible. The purpose of this white paper is to explain the process of generating final test-taker scores and reports and to explore the considerations that go into designing and disseminating various score reports that meet each client’s unique needs.

At this stage of the cycle, the exam has been written and you are sitting on a pile of test-taker response data. But your work is not over quite yet. Stage 5 of the Assessment Life Cycle involves analyzing test-takers’ responses and looking for patterns to evaluate whether the items in your exam have indeed created a valid assessment. This white paper explores many of the considerations when undertaking this process.

Exam administration is careful work; a good deal of planning goes into ensuring it is handled correctly. The central concern at this point in the Assessment Life Cycle is making sure that your examination is administered under the proper testing conditions, and that sensitive data is handled appropriately. If done correctly, the tasks of Stage 4 ensure that your examination will be administered in a way that respects the stakes (or ‘seriousness’) of the exam and supports the validity and defensibility of your assessment program. This white paper explores many of the considerations when undertaking this process.

Stage 3 of the Assessment Life Cycle is where exam developers take the items that were written and banked in Stage 2 and compile them to into one (or more) examination forms. This may sound fairly easy; indeed, sometimes examination assembly is just a matter of finding the right items to assess the required subject areas. However, assembling a valid and well-balanced examination form from an item bank is a careful process, and one that requires meticulous effort. This is especially true when creating licensure or certification examinations, or other high-stakes assessments. This white paper explores many of the considerations when undertaking this process.

Stage 2 of the Assessment Life Cycle is where test questions are created and used to populate an item bank. That may sound simple enough, but in truth, item development is careful work. It requires the coordinated effort of several groups of experts to ensure that the final examination includes the right number and quality of items and is organized into the right categories. This white paper explores many of the considerations when undertaking this process.

Every assessment program starts with defining targets and creating test specifications. During this stage, the test developers decide what the goal of their assessment is going to be. These goals are formalized and used to create an “examination blueprint,” which specifies the number and type of questions that the assessment requires to soundly measure each knowledge area. This white paper explores many of the considerations when undertaking this process.

During the 2020 ICE Exchange conference, a report from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) provided a list of criteria under which Live Remote Proctoring (LRP) could be used by programs to achieve and/or maintain the NCCA accreditation. In this virtual presentation, Dr. Isabelle Gonthier and Dr. Parfyonova will discuss these recommendations and their implications for future credentialing programs

There is no easy way to say this: 2020 has been a typhoon of uncertainty and change and has required a lot of creativity in every aspect of our lives. It’s almost like being back in our adolescent period, a time in all our lives when emotions run high and the consequences of small actions […]

For some time now, online proctoring has been gaining popularity with credentialing programs in order to complement their in-person testing options. Especially in the midst of a pandemic, the ability to remotely test and certify health professionals, technologists, and a variety of other professionals will continue to support pandemic recovery efforts. Despite the increased adoption […]

When developing an assessment, two major decisions a credentialing organization needs to make are: how many items will be on the exam, and how much time candidates will be given to complete the exam. These decisions can have a large impact on fairness and validity. Once an exam has been administered, candidates often report running […]