Our group of NCSN subject matter experts (SMEs) spent the school year keeping children healthy AND they dedicated a significant amount of time this summer to keeping the NCSN test bank healthy. That’s right, the exam development committee not only develops the exam, we also keep the exam healthy through review and editing processes.
This summer, the NCSN SMEs worked on two big projects: the item review project and the item re-referencing project. For both projects, the SMEs attended a training hosted by Prometric, a psychometric testing company, to learn how to review and edit questions that were in draft status. For the review project, the SMEs were responsible for carefully evaluating the content of each question. If the SMEs decided to retain or edit the item for pretesting, then the SME would also review the reference for that question and update the reference if needed. Each SME reviewed over 50 questions during this process! The SMEs also attended multiple meetings to discuss and edit the questions that were flagged during the review process.
But wait, there’s more that the SMEs did this summer! Another group of SMEs worked on the item re-referencing project. For this project, each SME would review the content of the question and find/update the reference for the question. Each SME referenced over 190 questions during this process!
Although we have accomplished a lot this year, keeping the exam healthy is a year-long, on-going process. As part of the regular exam cycle, we conduct Problem Item Notification (PIN) calls and a Form Review. If you’ve ever been curious as to how we keep the exam healthy, consider becoming a SME. To join the SME group, visit https://www.nbcsn.org/community/committees/. You will get to meet NCSNs from all over the country and work collaboratively to create a quality exam.
A sincere thank you to the group of SMEs who worked on these two projects over the summer. We could not do this work without the dedication and support from our SMEs. We are mesmerized by your dedication to the profession of school nursing!
Eden Donahue and Robin Shannon,
NBCSN Examination Committee Co-chairs