Responsibilities and Procedures
I. Exam Committee Responsibilities
A. This committee will work closely with the Test Consultant(s) and meet as needed to review new examination questions submitted by the External Item Writing Sub-Committee. This process will be based upon the “Examination Construction Procedures and Guidelines” document.
B. The committee will annually review examination specifications and content outline and make recommendations to the Board of Directors if a new Task Analysis is indicated.
C. A statistical report of item and test performance and the candidate critiques shall be reviewed by committee members in consultation with the Test Consultant at committee meetings held twice per year.
D. The Chair of this committee is responsible for:
1. recommending committee members for appointment to the Board of Directors.
2. assuring the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Agreement are signed by all attendees at every face-to-face meeting
3. delivering a short written report for each AMCB Board of Directors meeting and the President as requested. This report will include the pass rate of the first time, repeat and re-certification candidates.
II. External Item Writing Sub-Committee Responsibilities
A. This sub-committee will research and create new examination questions to the Exam Committee for review.
B. The Chair of this sub-committee is responsible for:
1. recommending committee members for appointment to the Exam Chair
2. assuring the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Agreement are signed by all members at least annually
3. submitting a short written report to the Exam Chair for each AMCB Board of Directors meeting
IV. Examination construction procedures
A. Examination construction begins with the preparation of a draft examination that is based on a form of the examination about to be retired from use;
1. The examination consultants (consultants) review the test and item level statistical data for the examination being retired and based on classical item analysis statistics remove items that are too easy (i.e., approx. p>.90), too difficult (i.e. approx. p<.40) and/or poor discriminators (i.e. approx. rpb>.10),
2. Every five years following the release of the new task analysis, a Standard Setting Study is conducted using methods that objectively facilitate the criterion-referenced nature of credentialing decisions, based on a method described by Angoff (1971). The study results are used to guide selection of a passing standard. The form used for standard setting is used as the base form for the creation of subsequent forms of the examination, to be made parallel and equivalent using statistical pre-administration equating and adherence to the content allocation requirements of the exam content outline.
3. The consultants review the test specifications and produce a table indicating the number of items in each content area needed as replacements;
4. The examination committee members (committee) perform an item-by-item review of the draft prepared by the consultants and take any of the following actions: 1) retain item; 2) delete item from the exam; and 3) select items to replace those removed by the consultants in their preparation of the draft and those removed by the committee in its itemby-item review; and 4) revise items (i.e., pre-test items only).
5. Replacement items are selected according the content areas that need replacements so the examination conforms to the test specifications. The replacement items must also have acceptable item analysis statistics as described above.
6. The committee also selects items for pre-testing. Each examination includes 50 pre-test items and the 50 pre-test items are selected to approximate the test specifications.
7. The consultants execute the committee’s item revisions and replacements, and submit the next draft of the examination to the committee for review;
8. The committee performs a review of the second draft of the examination prepared by the consultants and takes any of the following actions: 1) retain item; 2) delete item; 3) select items to replace those removed by the committee in its item-by-item review; or 4) revise pre-test items.
9. The consultants execute the changes made by the committee and prepare a third draft of the examination. Draft three is submitted to the committee chairperson for finalization by her and selected members of the committee; and
10. The consultants execute the changes made in the finalization process and produce the examination in a form suitable for submission to the computer-based testing vendor.
V. Examination Review Guidelines
A. Items will be reviewed for clarity, accuracy, and relevance to the test specifications and to entry-level midwifery practice;
B. Every item approved by the committee will have a current or classic reference;
C. At each committee meeting, items selected for use in an exam will be evaluated by committee members to ensure that the items continue to reflect current, best practice;
D. References for items previously used will be reviewed to ensure they comply with having been published within the last 5 years;
E. Staff will provide the committee with a library of references/resource materials for use during meetings;
F. Committee members may bring and use personal references/resources for use during meetings; and
G. Committee members review the item’s content codes to ensure that they are aligned to the appropriate content category and task statement.
VI. Examination Format and Content
A. The national certification examinations in nurse-midwifery/midwifery consist of items written in the multiple-choice format.
B. The content areas covered by the certification examination and the percentages of the total represented by each area are determined by the most recent Task Analysis completed by the Research Committee. Knowledge and judgment abilities of both normal and deviations from normal will be tested for all clinical areas.
C. At least two forms of the certification examination shall be constantly available for computer based testing. In general, each form of the certification examination shall remain in use for 12 months. However, the maximum active use of any form of the certification examination shall be 24 months.
VII. Examination Scoring and Standard
A. A criterion-referenced cut-score determination method, facilitated by the Test Consultant(s), is used by the Pass-Point Subcommittee to arrive at examination passing score for the base form of the examination.
B. Every five years following the release of the new task analysis, a Standard Setting Study is conducted using methods that objectively facilitate the criterion-referenced nature of credentialing decisions, based on a method described by Angoff (1971). The study results are used to guide selection of a passing standard. The form used for standard setting is used as the base form for the creation of subsequent forms of the examination, to be made parallel and equivalent using statistical pre-administration equating and adherence to the content allocation requirements of the exam content outline.
C. A statistical report of item and test performance and the candidate critiques shall be reviewed periodically by Examination Committee members in consultation with the Test Consultant.
D. Candidates who fail may request verification of results. Cost for this verification is delineated by the AMCB fee schedule
E. The AMCB Board of Directors will be informed periodically of the pass rate of the first time, repeat and re-certification candidates.