ASTM_E_2849_-_13.pdf

Designation:E284913An American National StandardStandard Practice forProfessional Certification Performance Testing1This standard is issued under the fixed designation E2849;the number immediately following the designation indicates the year oforiginal adoption or,in the case of revision,the year of last revision.A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval.Asuperscript epsilon()indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.1.Scope1.1 This practice covers both the professional certificationperformance test itself and specific aspects of the process thatproduced it.1.2 This practice does not include management systems.Inthis practice,the test itself and its administration,psychometricproperties,and scoring are addressed.1.3 This practice primarily addresses individual profes-sional performance certification examinations,although it maybe used to evaluate exams used in training,educational,andaptitude contexts.This practice is not intended to addresson-site evaluation of workers by supervisors for competence toperform tasks.1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of thesafety concerns,if any,associated with its use.It is theresponsibility of the user of this standard to establish appro-priate safety and health practices and determine the applica-bility of regulatory limitations prior to use.2.Terminology2.1 DefinitionsSome of the terms defined in this sectionare unique to the performance testing context.Consequently,terms defined in other standards may vary slightly from thosedefined in the following.2.1.1 candidate,nsomeone who is eligible to be evaluatedthrough the use of the performance test;a person who is or willbe taking the test.2.1.2 construct validity,ndegree to which the test evalu-ates an underlying theoretical idea resulting from the orderlyarrangement of facts.2.1.3 differential system responsiveness,nmeasurable dif-ference in response latency between two systems.2.1.4 examinee,ncandidate in the process of taking a test.2.1.5 gating item,nunit of evaluation that shall be passedto pass a test.2.1.6 inter-rater reliability,nmeasurement of rater consis-tency with other raters.2.1.6.1 DiscussionSee rater reliability.2.1.7 item,nscored response unit.2.1.7.1 DiscussionSee task.2.1.8 item observer,nhuman or computer element thatobserves and records a candidates performance on a specificitem.2.1.9 on the job,nanother term for“target context.”2.1.9.1 DiscussionSee target context.2.1.10 performance test,nexamination in which the re-sponse modality mimics or reflects the response modalityrequired in the target context.2.1.11 power test,nexamination in which virtually allcandidates have time to complete all items.2.1.12 practitioners,npeople who practice the contents ofthe test in the target context.2.1.13 rater reliability,nmeasurement of rater consistencywith a uniform standard.2.1.13.1 DiscussionSee inter-rater reliability.2.1.14 reconfiguration,nmodification of the user interfacefor a process,device,or software application.2.1.14.1 DiscussionReconfiguration ranges from adjust-ing the seat in a crane to importing a set of macros into aprogramming environment.2.1.15 reliability,ndegree to which the test will make thesame prediction with the same examinee on another occasionwith no training occurring during the intervening interval.2.1.16 rubric,nset of rules by which performance will bejudged.2.1.17 speeded test,nexamination that is time-constrainedso that more than 10%of candidates do not finish all items.2.1.18 target context,nsituation within which a test isdesigned to predict performance.2.1.19 task,nunit of performance requested for the can-didate to do;a task can be scored as one item;a task may alsobe comprised of multiple components each of which is scoredas an item.1This practice is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee E36 on Accredi-tation&Certification and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee E36.80 onPersonnel Performance Testing and Assessment.Current edition approved Dec.1,2013.Published December 2013.DOI:10.1520/E2849-13.Copyright ASTM International,100 Barr Harbor Drive,PO Box C700,West Conshohocken,PA 19428-2959.United States1 2.1.20 test,nsampling of behavior over a limited time inwhich an authenticated examinee is given specific tasks underspecified conditions,tasks that are scored by a uniformlyapplied rubric.2.1.20.1 DiscussionA test can also be referred to as anassessment,although typically“assessment”is used for forma-tive evaluation.This practice addresses specifically certifica-tion and licensure,as stated in 1.3.A test is designed to predictthe examinees behavior in a specified context,the“targetcontext.”2.1.21 trajectory,ncandidates path through the solutionto a single item,task,or test.2.1.21.1 DiscussionAlso termed the response trajectory.2.1.22 validity,nextent to which a test predicts targetbehavior for multiple candidates within a target context.3.Significance and Use3.1 This practice for performance testing provid