Introduction to Special Section: Issues and Advances in Standard Setting Methods.

For nearly two decades, virtually all U.S. states and many professional societies have grappled with the challenge of how best to establish test-based performance standards that make sense in terms of both content-related expectations and the score scales reported to stakeholders. Perhaps the most important takeaway from this issue is that it is okay to question standard-setting dogma and adjust methods based on new research, even if that means methods differ within components of an assessment system. The role of standard-setting procedures is central to establishing the validity of the inferences about examinee performance and the correctness of proficiency or competency classifications. [Extracted from the article]