Approved By:	ESPCC
Approval Date:	February 24, 2012
Revision Date(s):	February 22, 2019; October 23, 2020; November 18, 2021; January 24, 2025
Date Last Reviewed:	January 24, 2025

The ESPCC participates in and provides oversight for the development and ongoing maintenance of the CESP examination. The ESPCC and Certification Director work in partnership with a qualified psychometric consultant to ensure the examination is developed and maintained in a manner consistent with generally accepted psychometric, education testing practices, and national accreditation standards for certification programs.

Subject Matter Experts

The ESPCC and certification director select diverse groups of qualified subject matter experts (SMEs) to participate in exam development activities throughout the exam development process. In the case of individuals selected by the certification director, the ESPCC or ESPCC Chair has final approval of all SMEs.

SMEs are selected based on their demonstrated expertise, experience level, geographic representation, and specialty area.

Each working group of SMEs, to the extent reasonably possible, will be representative of the CESP certified population and, when selected for a specific task, will represent:

• A range of experience (years working in the field) employment support services
• A range of practice areas/areas of expertise, job settings, and populations served
• A range of geographical areas
• Cultural, race/ethnic diversity, and gender diversity

SMEs will be appointed on an ad-hoc basis to working groups and committees. Appointments will be made by the ESPCC Chair and the Certification Director. Members of the ESPCC, except for the public member, may serve as SMEs. The public member is encouraged to participate in examination development activities as an observer.

As noted below, SMEs will participate throughout the test development process. Some overlap among groups of SMEs is acceptable; however, the same SMEs will not be used in multiple committees. In some cases, such as item writing and item review, overlap is not acceptable (in other words the same SME cannot both write and review/approve an item).

Those SMEs who have access to confidential exam information during the exam development process may not recertify by exam for 2 years. If recertification is due within that 2-year period, they will be required to recertify by continuing education (CE).

Role Delineation Studies/Job Analysis

Role Delineation Studies (RDS), or a job analysis, will be conducted to identify and validate the knowledge and skills which will be measured by the examination. The results of the RDS will serve as the basis for the exam.

The ESPCC has determined that a job analysis study will be conducted every 7 years. This determination is based on the frequency of substantive changes in the field and compliance with standards for professional certification programs.

Examination Specifications

The content for the exam will be determined based on the recommended Content Outline and content area weights developed from the job analysis and based on recommendations from psychometric consultant(s). The final content outline and corresponding content weights will be approved by the
ESPCC.

The exam will include scored items, as well as pre-test items. The number of pre-test items will be approved by the ESPCC when approving exam specifications.

Item Writing and Review

The development of all multiple-choice items for the exam will be directly linked to the approved Content Outline.

SMEs trained by the Certification Director and/or psychometric consultant will write and review items for the exam. SME item writers and reviewers will complete mandatory training provided by the Certification Director and/or psychometric consultant on item writing/review for certification examinations. All SMEs will submit a signed confidentiality form prior to participating in any item writing/review activities.

Once items have been written by trained SMEs, they will be reviewed by at least one SME who did not write the item and the psychometric testing consultant. Once an item has satisfactorily completed this initial review it will be added to the item bank. Items are reviewed again when they are included on a test form (see Test Assembly below).

Item Bank

An item bank will be maintained which includes all items developed for the CESP examination.
Data for each item stored in the item bank will include: current status (e.g. draft, active, retired), correct answer key, content outline linkage, reference, and performance statistics.

The Certification Director will oversee maintenance of the item bank, whether the item bank is held internally or sub-contracted out.

Examination Assembly & Approval

A draft examination based on the previous form (or the new test specifications if a RDS was recently completed) will be reviewed by the ESPCC or designated SMEs after its creation by the psychometric consultant. The draft will meet the requirements of the test specifications with respect to content and weighting.

Two (2) exam forms will be developed per year based on the threshold of approximately 500 exposures per form. This is subject to change based on an increase or decrease of candidate volume in a given year.

Trained SMEs will review the test item database question-by-question and, for each item will make one of the following determinations; select the item as is, select with revisions, or place the item on hold (but retain it in the database). The psychometric consultant and certification director will then edit the finalized examination and present it to the Council for final approval.

Establishing a Passing Point

The passing point for the exam will be established using a criterion-reference technique. Qualified and trained SMEs will participate in determining the passing point working with the psychometric consultant.

The process used to determine the passing point will be documented as part of a technical report. The final passing point resulting from this process will be approved by the ESPCC (the ESPCC may serve as the panel of SMEs in this case). Any modifications to the recommended passing point will be documented in the final passing point study report along with the rationale for those changes.

A cut score is required to be conducted following the completion of a job analysis.

Test Analysis/Technical Reports

Performance statistics will be calculated and retained for each examination by the testing vendor. As needed, items may be removed from scoring or other adjustments made, as approved by the SME ad hoc committee appointed to review the report.

At least annually a test analysis or technical report will be produced by the psychometric consultant and reviewed by the ESPCC to evaluate the reliability and effectiveness of the examination and to determine any areas that must be reviewed or revised.

At a minimum the technical reports will include a summary of the exam administration, the number of exam takers, the passing point and number of exam items, measures of average performance, measures of performance variability, reliability indices, pass-fail percentages, and recommendations from the psychometric consultant.