I love a good underdog story — stories about people who started from nothing and, despite their circumstances, were able to climb to the top and experience success. In the American culture especially, underdogs are highly regarded. Why do Americans love underdog stories so much?

Underdogs are the manifestation of the American Dream. For decades, immigrants have flocked to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream: The idea that in the United States of America, all citizens have equal opportunities and an equal chance of achieving their goals and dreams. My parents, like many other American parents, instilled in me the ideology that if you work hard to achieve your goals, you will succeed.

Despite the ideology America was built on, our country has struggled to consistently provide equal opportunities to all. As discussed in the previous legal law series posts, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the first pivotal piece of American legislation toward equal opportunity for all because it outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. The purpose of this piece of legislation was to ensure fairness, and as test developers and test users, we know all too well the importance of fairness in selection decisions.

Importance of fairness in selection decisions

Fairness in testing has recently been thrown back into the limelight due to the recent College Admissions Cheating Scam (Yan, 2019). The scandal has caused an uproar in America because it has exposed hypocrisy in the American Dream, which instead feels like it should be defined as, “in the United States of America, wealthy citizens have better opportunities and a better chance of achieving their goals and dreams.” The public is questioning now, more than ever, test security, fairness, and the people in positions of power who make the important and life-changing decisions of who gets in, who gets hired, and who gets promoted.

As test developers and test users, candidates are looking to us to make fair decisions. Test developers have a responsibility to develop tests according to professional and legal guidelines. If fairness and/or adverse impact analysis data has been collected on assessments, test developers should make that information available to test users to help inform their selection decisions. IPMA-HR’s Assessment Services Department provides several free white papers to help test users ensure fairness in testing, including Considerations in Addressing Adverse Impact, and Considerations in Test Accommodations.

Test users have the responsibility to make fair selection and promotional decisions, which includes the choice of proctor. I receive many calls for advice on test fairness, adverse impact and test accommodations. But hands-down, the most common fairness-related question I receive is: Where do I set my passpoint?

Setting a valid, fair and appropriate passpoint is often the most challenging activity associated with the test development and administration process. Agencies have a responsibility to use great care and consideration when setting a passpoint, particularly when hiring decisions are based, even in part, on exam results.

IPMA-HR’s Assessment Services Department now offers an efficient and effective solution: the Passpoint Guide. The Passpoint Guide provides step-by-step instructions and Excel spreadsheets to show you how to determine a fair threshold of acceptable performance on the score continuum. In other words: who deserves to pass the test. And, as always, our  Assessment Services staff is available to help answer any fairness related questions you may have.

References

Yan, H. (2019, March 19). What we know so far in the college admissions cheating scandal. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/13/us/what-we-know-college-admissions-cheating-scandal/index.html