In today’s multi-channel world, we often refer to marketing value in overly narrow and simplistic views. When one calculates their... View Article

Professional certification bodies can do more than demonstrate conformity to international standards for the certification of persons. They can get... View Article

“Many people take offense when the narratives they believe to be true are called myths,” Wikipedia explains. “This usage is... View Article

Overview In a Hotspot (HS) item the examinee responds to the question by clicking directly on an image. This is often a... View Article

A test security plan is a comprehensive collection of policies, procedures, and documents that outline and guide actions related to test security. From the development of an exam’s blueprint to the reporting of scores, test security touches nearly every aspect of test development and the testing process. Trust is a prerequisite to interpreting scores, and without evidence to support the integrity and veracity of scores, trust is compromised. Without trust, credibility is compromised.

The first step in developing a credentialing exam is to conduct a job/task analysis (JTA).  A job/task analysis refers to the... View Article

As testing professionals, we are often communicating statistical information about items on examination forms to stakeholders involved in the examination process. This information includes a range of topics such as item difficulty and discrimination as well as simple multiple choice item option frequencies.  While it is clear to those of us in the field of certification and licensure what these statistical properties mean, they can be less clear to those stakeholders who only encounter them during an exam committee meeting or even a board meeting.  It is our responsibility as testing professionals to demystify these numbers and provide a meaningful discussion on the relevance and importance of the data examinations yield.

From our PTI family to yours, we wish you the happiest of holidays and a Happy New Year! Check back... View Article

It's one of the most basic questions in planning and maintaining an examination program: How many items do we need to write, review, and pretest? Write too many, and you’re expending resources on inventory that will go stale. Write too few, and you can’t assemble the requisite number of test forms to your specifications.

Getting Started
To answer the question, you need to review the rules you have established for yourself – your set of constraints.

Professional Testing is thrilled to be presenting at several sessions at the upcoming Innovations in Testing conference, March 20–23, 2016, in Orlando.