Entries by Nathan Thompson, PhD

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Nedelsky Method of Standard Setting

The Nedelsky method is an approach to setting the cutscore of an exam.  Originally suggested by Nedelsky (1954), it is an early attempt to implement a quantitative, rigorous procedure to the process of standard setting.  Quantitative approaches are needed to eliminate the arbitrariness and subjectivity that would otherwise dominate the process of setting a cutscore.  […]

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What are enemy items?

Enemy items is a psychometric term that refers to two test questions (items) which should not be on the same test form (if linear) seen by a given examinee (if LOFT or adaptive).  This can therefore be relevant to linear forms, but also pertains to linear on the fly testing (LOFT) and computerized adaptive testing […]

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Incremental Validity

Incremental validity is an aspect of validity that refers to what an additional assessment or predictive variable can add to the information provided by existing assessments or variables.  It refers to the amount of “bonus” predictive power by adding in another predictor.  In many cases, it is on the same or similar trait, but often the […]

Case Study: Escuela Superior de Administración Pública (ESAP), Colombia

ASC partners with Escuela Superior de Administración Pública (ESAP) to develop and securely deliver nationwide civil service exams in Colombia as well as admissions exams for educational programs in the field of civil service.  We worked together to provide a comprehensive solution to modernize these assessments when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.  Learn more below! Requirements […]

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Summative and Formative Assessment

Summative and formative assessment are a crucial component of the educational process.  If you work in the educational assessment field or even in educational generally, you have probably encountered these terms.  What do they mean?  This post will explore the differences between summative and formative assessment. Assessment plays a crucial role in education, serving as […]

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Assess.ai Passes Audit for FISMA / FedRAMP

ASC is proud to announce that we have successfully passed an audit for FISMA / FedRAMP Moderate, demonstrating our extremely high security standards for our online assessment platform!  FISMA and FedRAMP are both security protocols that are required to provide cloud-based software to the United States government, based on the National Institute of Standards and […]

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Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE Exam) is an assessment designed to measure performance of tasks, typically medical, in a high-fidelity way.  It is more a test of skill than knowledge.  For example, I used to work at a certification board for ophthalmic assistants; there were 3 levels, and the top two levels included both a […]

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Test Score Reliability and Validity

Test score reliability and validity are core concepts in the field of psychometrics and assessment.  Both of them refer to the quality of a test, the scores it produces, and how we use those scores.  Because test scores are often used for very important purposes with high stakes, it is of course paramount that the […]