Essential Facts You Want About Certification and CCHI’s Pilot Exam Process

 
CCHI received several questions this month about whether CCHI will be able to grant a credential or certification to an individual who participates in our pilot examination. The answer to this question comes from the certification experts and psychometricians that CCHI has been working with to develop CCHI exams and certification processes – Cheryl Wild, Ph.D., is a CCHI consultant with over 35 years of experience in the testing field (see www.wildandassociates.com), and James Henderson, Ph.D., Chief Psychometrician and Executive Vice President with Castle Worldwide (see www.castleworldwide.com). Recently, Dr. Henderson co-chaired the steering committee for the Standards Review and Validation Project of the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA, the accrediting arm of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence).

Standards for the development of certification programs, such as the NCCA Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs, recognize that certification can be awarded based on a pilot test as long as certain quality assurance steps are taken. CCHI has followed NCCA’s nationally-respected process from day one. Here is what NCCA requires to award certification based on the pilot exam:

• Design of the assessment based on a job/task analysis.
• Assessment instruments are developed using accepted psychometric principles.
• Cut scores (pass/fail criteria) that are set appropriately to the field.
• Documented psychometric procedures for scoring, interpreting, and reporting assessments.

Many other certification programs have offered credentials and certification during the first administration of their exams.

CCHI has designed the development of its examination to comply with all of these necessary steps. First, CCHI designed its examination based on the Job/Task Analysis we conducted in January 2009 and the examination blueprint that was developed from the results of the survey. Castle Worldwide is developing CCHI’s test in accordance with accepted psychometric principles and Cheryl Wild is auditing all of Castle’s work to ensure compliance with these principles and NCCA standards.

After individuals take CCHI’s pilot exam, Castle will conduct two "cut score" meetings (one for Part I and one for Part II) with CCHI Subject Matter Experts to establish the "cut scores" (or passing scores) according to accepted psychometric principles. Again, we will involve Subject Matter Experts in the development of the cut scores. After the cut scores are established, all the pilot exams will be scored and those who receive passing scores based on the cut score will be granted CCHI’s Spanish Certified Healthcare Interpreter certification or Associate Healthcare Interpreter credential. Castle is documenting the psychometric procedures and a final report on the test development processes will be available later this year.

Further, it may help to explain the process of test development which itself is developed to have the maximum ability to create valid test questions. CCHI has followed Castle’s recommendations in involving numerous Subject Matter Experts in the development of its examination. Each part of CCHI’s test has been developed by one group of Subject Matter Experts and reviewed by a second group of Subject Matter Experts. In addition, each item undergoes multiple editorial, linguistic, and cultural reviews including review by a linguist with a Ph.D. in linguistics and extensive expertise in healthcare interpreting. The entire test development process includes multiple levels o review to ensure the greatest ability to create valid questions.

In addition, a pilot examination includes additional "items" in case some do not test well and must be replaced. So while a "normal" CCHI Part I exam is expected to include 85 scored questions, the pilot examination will include 100 questions. The analysis of the pilot test will evaluate whether certain items do not test well and thus should be excluded. If test items are excluded, they will not be scored. This allows CCHI to not score any questions that aren’t working properly. In Castle’s three decades of experience, other certification programs have all been able to score a sufficient number of questions from a pilot examination to have a psychometrically valid test.

Participants in the pilot are NOT guaranteed certification. They must meet the rigorous prerequisites for certification and must pass the examination—the same requirements and standards that apply to any applicant. Part 1 exam covers the basics of health care interpreting and is in English. Part 2 is a Spanish oral performance examination covering consecutive and simultaneous interpreting and sight translation.

The NCCA Standards for the development of the certification program do not allow "grandfathering," Consequently, CCHI will not be grandfathering anyone.

We invite readers to go to our web site and learn more about the CCHI Spanish Certified Healthcare Interpreter (the only certification program we offer) and the CCHI Associate Health Care Interpreter credential (this is not a certification). You may read more detail about the content of our examinations and how they are being developed. Please sign up for our newsletter and volunteer to participate in the development of our certification programs.

We also invite you to learn more about the standards for certification which are available at this site.