An Iterative Structured Judgment Process for Establishing Standards on Competency Tests: Theory and Application

This paper reports the results of research on a judgmental method for establishing standards on competency tests. The research had several objectives: first, to demonstrate the feasibility of a new, and somewhat more complex standardsetting method than has been used in the past; second, to examine the degree of similarity of standards recommended by judges having different types of interest and involvement in secondary education; third, to explore relationships between the background characteristics of judges and their recommended standards; fourth, to search for relationships between the characteristics of test items, and judges' assessments of their importance in contributing to decisions on whether students should