{
  "id": "competency:med-assessment--curriculum",
  "code": "CDU-EDU-ASC-900",
  "level": "MSc",
  "name": "MEd Assessment & Curriculum",
  "faculty": "Faculty of Education",
  "lineage": [
    {
      "institution": "Conquest Designer University",
      "year": 2026,
      "note": "authored from the brief and the AERA/APA/NCME Standards; no prior institution is claimed"
    }
  ],
  "researchProject": "Is the test fair to the learner? Item quality, reliability, measurement error and the cut score",
  "description": "The psychometrics behind a defensible assessment: item difficulty and upper–lower discrimination with Ebel’s quality bands, internal-consistency reliability by Cronbach’s alpha, the standard error of measurement and the confidence band around a learner’s score, and a modified-Angoff cut score with its standard error across judges.",
  "syllabus": [
    "Item analysis: difficulty, the upper–lower discrimination index, revising or discarding items",
    "Reliability: internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha, what lengthens or shortens it",
    "Measurement error: the SEM and the score band a report should show",
    "Standard setting: the modified Angoff method and the precision of a cut score"
  ],
  "reference": {
    "Item difficulty (upper–lower)": "p = (U + L) ÷ 2n",
    "Discrimination index": "D = (U − L) ÷ n; ≥ 0.40 very good, 0.30–0.39 reasonably good, 0.20–0.29 marginal, < 0.20 poor (Ebel & Frisbie 1991)",
    "Cronbach’s alpha": "α = k/(k − 1)·(1 − Σσᵢ² ÷ σ_X²)",
    "SEM": "σ_X·√(1 − reliability); band = score ± z·SEM",
    "Angoff cut": "mean over judges of Σ item probabilities; SE = sd ÷ √judges"
  },
  "role": "You are an assessment specialist advising a curriculum committee. Say what the statistic means for the learner, show the calculation, and say what the committee should change in the test.",
  "feeUsd": 1,
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "qualification": {
    "award": "MEd",
    "nqfLevel": 9,
    "qualificationType": "Master's Degree (HEQSF qualification type 9a)",
    "totalCredits": 180,
    "minCreditsAtExitLevel": 120,
    "iscedFields": [
      "011"
    ],
    "standards": [
      "AERA, APA & NCME (2014) Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing — chapters 1 (validity), 2 (reliability/precision and errors of measurement), 5 (scores, scales and cut scores)",
      "CAEP (2022) Standards for initial and advanced educator preparation — evidence from valid and reliable assessments",
      "Ebel, R. L. & Frisbie, D. A. (1991) Essentials of Educational Measurement — discrimination-index guidelines",
      "Cizek, G. J. & Bunch, M. B. (2007) Standard Setting — the (modified) Angoff method"
    ],
    "registration": "not registered"
  },
  "modules": [
    {
      "code": "CDU-EDU-ASC-900-901",
      "title": "Coursework — the executable units",
      "nqfLevel": 9,
      "credits": 60,
      "prerequisites": [],
      "coRequisites": [],
      "outcomes": [
        "answer every unit of the qualification against its published reference, with the working shown"
      ],
      "assessment": {
        "formative": [
          "worked examples re-run against the published reference",
          "seeded practice scenarios, deterministic per (pan, unit, attempt)"
        ],
        "summative": "every unit passed once through the seeded assessment (the seeded assessment room)",
        "passMark": 50,
        "subminimum": 40,
        "moderation": "internally assessed by the unit itself — its reference implementation is the marker; the working is published so anyone can re-run the mark (D-13.1 — no model marks anything)"
      },
      "unitIds": [
        "item_analysis",
        "cronbach_alpha",
        "sem_band",
        "angoff_cut"
      ],
      "notionalHours": 600
    },
    {
      "code": "CDU-EDU-ASC-900-902",
      "title": "Research report",
      "nqfLevel": 9,
      "credits": 120,
      "prerequisites": [
        "CDU-EDU-ASC-900-901"
      ],
      "coRequisites": [],
      "outcomes": [
        "Is the test fair to the learner? Item quality, reliability, measurement error and the cut score"
      ],
      "assessment": {
        "formative": [
          "worked examples re-run against the published reference",
          "seeded practice scenarios, deterministic per (pan, unit, attempt)"
        ],
        "summative": "the research report, assessed against the qualification’s published reference block",
        "passMark": 50,
        "subminimum": 40,
        "moderation": "internally assessed by the unit itself — its reference implementation is the marker; the working is published so anyone can re-run the mark (D-13.1 — no model marks anything)"
      },
      "unitIds": [],
      "notionalHours": 1200
    }
  ],
  "units": [
    {
      "id": "item_analysis",
      "name": "Item difficulty and discrimination",
      "answers": "How hard is this item, and does it separate stronger from weaker candidates?",
      "example": {
        "upperCorrect": 24,
        "lowerCorrect": 10,
        "groupSize": 30
      },
      "reference": "Kelley (1939) upper and lower groups; Ebel & Frisbie (1991) discrimination-index guidelines; AERA/APA/NCME Standards (2014) ch. 4 (item development and review)",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "upperCorrect": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Correct answers in the upper group",
            "min": 0
          },
          "lowerCorrect": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Correct answers in the lower group",
            "min": 0
          },
          "groupSize": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Candidates in each group (often the top and bottom 27%)",
            "min": 1
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "difficulty": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "p = (U + L) ÷ 2n"
          },
          "discrimination": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "D = (U − L) ÷ n"
          },
          "quality": {
            "type": "string",
            "describe": "very good, reasonably good, marginal or poor"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "cronbach_alpha",
      "name": "Cronbach’s alpha",
      "answers": "How internally consistent are the items of this test?",
      "example": {
        "itemVariances": [
          0.8,
          1.1,
          0.9,
          1.2,
          0.7,
          1
        ],
        "totalScoreVariance": 18.5
      },
      "reference": "Cronbach, L. J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests, Psychometrika 16(3); AERA/APA/NCME Standards (2014) ch. 2",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "itemVariances": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Variance of each item score"
          },
          "totalScoreVariance": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Variance of the total test score",
            "min": 0.000001
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "items": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "k"
          },
          "sumItemVariances": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Σσᵢ²"
          },
          "alpha": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Cronbach’s alpha"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "sem_band",
      "name": "Standard error of measurement and score band",
      "answers": "Given the test’s reliability, how precise is this learner’s score, and what band should be reported?",
      "example": {
        "scoreSd": 12,
        "reliability": 0.91,
        "observedScore": 68,
        "band": "95"
      },
      "reference": "Classical test theory: SEM = σ·√(1 − r); AERA/APA/NCME Standards (2014) ch. 2 (errors of measurement should be reported)",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "scoreSd": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Standard deviation of test scores",
            "min": 0
          },
          "reliability": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Reliability coefficient, 0–0.999",
            "min": 0,
            "max": 0.999
          },
          "observedScore": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "The learner’s observed score",
            "min": 0,
            "max": 100
          },
          "band": {
            "type": "string",
            "describe": "Confidence of the band, %",
            "oneOf": [
              "68",
              "90",
              "95"
            ]
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "sem": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Standard error of measurement"
          },
          "lower": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Score − z·SEM"
          },
          "upper": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Score + z·SEM"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "angoff_cut",
      "name": "Modified-Angoff cut score",
      "answers": "Where do the judges place the pass mark, and how precise is that placement?",
      "example": {
        "judgeSums": [
          28.5,
          31,
          29.5,
          33,
          30,
          27.5
        ],
        "items": 50
      },
      "reference": "Angoff, W. H. (1971) Scales, norms and equivalent scores, in Educational Measurement (2nd ed.); Cizek & Bunch (2007) Standard Setting, ch. 6",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "judgeSums": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Each judge’s sum of item probabilities for the borderline candidate"
          },
          "items": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Number of items on the test",
            "min": 1
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "cutScore": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Mean of the judges’ sums (raw score)"
          },
          "cutPercent": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Cut score ÷ items × 100"
          },
          "standardError": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Sample sd of the sums ÷ √judges"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}