Invitation – HCA Standard Setting

This is an in-person meeting. We warmly extend invitations to members of the health care aide community, previously assessed IENs, employers, academic, research representatives, and subject matter experts.

Inspire integrated bilingual assessments invites you to join us for the Standard Setting exercise meeting. This is a critical step in the assessment development process. Standard setting is defined as “the proper following of a prescribed, rational system of rules or procedures resulting in the assignment of a number or criteria to differentiate between two or more states, degrees or levels of performance” (Cizek, 1993, p. 100).

Inspire Standard setting event offers a valuable opportunity to establish interpretative cut scores for our assessments.  Inspire isn’t about passing or failing; it’s about delving into candidates’ skills and applied knowledge to identify strengths and areas for growth, considering their educational and professional backgrounds, for tailored educational support.

The standard-setting exercise will be held in Vancouver the week of July 3 to July 4, 2024, from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm daily. Interested parties are invited to complete a survey, and selections will be made based on their expertise and backgrounds to ensure diverse representation.

The standard-setting exercise will encompass several key activities, including a detailed training for participants on the standard-setting tools and exercise objectives, evaluating assessment performance levels, and supporting the establishment of cut scores that will then be validated with Inspire stakeholders.

Thanks to the invaluable support of our stakeholders, the 2022 Inspire Competency Framework meeting paved the way for enriching our assessment content. Our journey began in January 2023 with content development, followed by pilot and field tests, culminating in the launch of our new bilingual triple track assessment, integrating CBA and SLA elements, in 2024.

To be eligible, standard-setting participants must meet the following criteria:

• Possess up-to-date role registration (e.g., health care related field).
• Be currently employed as an HCA, or HCA educator/researcher/employer/supervisor.
• Demonstrate HCA experience, including work with IENs and recent graduates from Canadian institutions, in the three years preceding the standard-setting exercise.
• Possess strong knowledge of entry-level competencies corresponding to the represented role (HCA).
• Be available to participate in the in-person activity scheduled for July 3–4, 2024, in Vancouver.
• For IEN participants, have completed an Inspire assessment within the last two years, undergone transitional education, and obtained registration for the represented role in the standard-setting exercise.

At Inspire, we value diversity and inclusion and believe diverse perspectives and experiences bring both innovation and better outcomes to the work we do and the decisions we make. We welcome participation to reflect the communities we serve and encourage Indigenous Peoples and members of equity-seeking groups to apply.

Selected participants will be contacted by June 19, 2024, and our Inspire staff will coordinate details with them.

Applicants interested in participating can access the registration survey, please contact Inspire at assessmentdevelopment@inspireassessments.org.