Setting Pass–Fail Points and Competency Levels

Abstract

In many projects, it is important to be able to compute Rasch person measures and item measures. This chapter introduces the use of Rasch to confidently compute “pass/fail” points for a test. This point can be thought of as the location of a line at a particular measure on a Wright map. Persons below the line fail. Some research projects may require a number of horizontal lines, for example, a line differentiating failing students from those students who “low pass,” a line allowing differentiation of “low pass” students and “medium pass” students, and a line allowing one to differentiate “medium pass” and “high pass” students. The step-by-step procedures are given to compute these boundaries (and understand and explain these boundaries). The chapter finishes up with a student dialog, Keywords and Phrases, Quick Tips, Data Files, References, and Additional Readings. As in almost all chapters, sample analyses are used to reinforce the chapter topic.