Factors Influencing Recommended Standards for Essay Tests

Sixty-one judges provided recommendations on minimal standards for the Essay portion of the National Teacher Examinations Communication Skills Test, which is used to screen applicants to North Carolina teacher education programs. The standard-setting procedures were described; provision of student performance information to judges and group discussion significantly increased the average recommended standards. Initial differences between the average recommended standards when two sets of essays were used by judges were diminished by those treatments. The recommendations of public school judges were significantly more variable than were those of college and university judges following discussion.