*Teachers; Test Interpretation

Different procedures for setting cut points on achievement test scales provide the standard-setting participants with different information to support the unique judgment task associated with each procedure. This study examined how participants in standard settings used the different information from three different procedures in Kentucky in 2000. Three cut points had to be established on the scales for each of six content areas in each of three grades for Kentucky's assessment system. The procedures were: (1) a contrasting groups procedure; (2) a holistic examination of student work on the tests as described by R. Jaeger and C. Mills (1998); and (3) a bookmark procedure (D. Lewis and others, 1998). Using Kentucky's five-step standard-setting process, the judges (teachers) established preliminary descriptors, conducted each of the three approaches, and then conducted a synthesis process to put together the results of the preceding steps. All told, 1,599 teachers participated in the exercises