Agency, Policy Definitions, Content-Specific Definitions and Minimum Qualifications

A critical part of setting standards is the policy that drives the process. In this book, the generic term “agency” is used to represent the policy body that calls for a standard and that ultimately approves the final cut score on the reporting score scale. This chapter describes the role of the agency and the series of documents that describe the standard and the policy. In the literature on standard setting, these descriptions are called achievement level descriptions (ALDs), proficiency level descriptions (PLDs), policy definitions, and descriptions of the minimally qualified candidate. Several types of agencies are described as well as the varying roles they choose to perform related to the standard setting process.