Research into the quality of central examinations on behalf of the CvTE
In 2020, RCEC conducted two studies for the Board for Tests and Examinations (CvTE). On behalf of the Dutch government, the CvTE both assures the quality of central examinations and enables schools to administer them properly. Based on this responsibility and duty of care, CvTE has asked RCEC to investigate the quality of:
- the central exam Dutch language 3F for intermediate vocational education from 2018-2019
- two vocational central exams for secondary education from 2019
Central exam Dutch language 3F for intermediate vocational education from 2018-2019
In this first assignment, RCEC investigated whether the procedures used by the CvTE and Cito in the development of the central exams for intermediate vocational education result in exam products that meet (inter)national quality standards. The content validity, reliability and standard setting were reviewed. The content validity was assessed with four aspects: domain definition, domain representation, domain relevance and the procedure of test construction.
The conclusion is that the procedures result in exam products that meet the requirements of national and international quality standards. Also, the four investigated variants of the exam meet the criteria for reliability as stated in the RCEC review system for study tests and practical exams (Sanders et al., 2018).
Two vocational central exams for secondary education from 2019
In the second assignment, RCEC investigated whether the procedures used by the CvTE and Cito in the development of the vocational central exams for secondary education result in exam products that meet (inter)national quality standards. In this study, the two vocational central exams for secondary education: ‘Producing, Installing and Energy (PIE) vmbo KB 2019’ and ‘Services and Products (D&P) vmbo GL 2019’ were investigated.
The four previously mentioned aspects of content validity were evaluated. A fifth aspect, authenticity, was added, specifically for vocational exams. The conclusion is that the procedures for the realisation of content validity for both exams meet the requirements of national and international standards.
The Dutch research reports can be found here:
Research into the content validity of two vocational central exams for secondary education from 2019