High-stakes testing is one of the most contentious issues in education today. Cut-off scores have become an extension of ongoing debates related to high-stakes testing—i.e., utilizing tests to make essential decisions about learners, educators, schools, or districts.
For instance, “high stakes” test scores may be used to decide punishments (such as sanctions, penalties, funding reductions, negative publicity for districts and schools), accolades (awards, public celebration, positive publicity), advancement (grade promotion or graduation decisions for learners), or compensation (salary increases or bonuses for administrators and educators).
Because the pros and cons are tied to cut-off scores, the scores can become the object of debate, particularly if they are perceived to be flawed, or unfair.
Cut-off scores can diverge significantly from system to system, state to state, test to test, school to school, course to course, or year to year when changes are made to learning standards and accompanying assessment.
Proficiency levels are modified in direct relation to the methods used to decide cut-off scores. For example, it is possible to alter the perception of learner “proficiency” by raising or lowering cut-off scores on tests or by changing the process or criteria used to decide them.
Some states have been accused of manipulating learner proficiency by lowering cut-off scores or creating tests based on low standards—e.g., an eleventh-grade test that assesses learner performance based on content knowledge skills they should have learned in eighth grade. For these reasons, proficiency determinations based on cut-off scores may become a source of confusion, debate, controversy, and even deception.
Psychometricians, researchers, and other specialists may also debate the specific standards-setting processes used to decide cut-off scores on standardized tests, but these debates rarely extend beyond academia.
Should we be using cut off scores? In some cases yes, and in some cases no. We have to handle the use of cut off scores on a case by case basis.
