Lorrie A. Shepard
Standard Setting Issues and Methods
University of Colorado System
previous methodological reviews contro versy regarding adequacy standardsetting technology summarized judgmental nature standardsetting methods examined debate whether fallible standards better none recast context three different test uses pupil diagnosis pupil certification high school graduation professional licensure program evaluation exemplary standardset ting methods reviewed representing follow ing major approaches 1 judgments test con tent 2 judgments masterynonmastery groups 3 norms passing rates 4 empirical methods discovering standards 5 empiri cal methods adjusting cutoff scores given standard external criterion measure stan dards based performance judged mastery groups contrasting groups method cer tain uses normative data likened known groups validation recommendations made selecting standardsetting techniques depending test use including pupil diagnosis pupil certifica tion program evaluation future research standard setting discussed context im proving practical aspects judgmental methods