title: Writing better test items.
abstract: Professional development specialists have had little opportunity to learn how to write test items to meet the expectations of today's graduate nurse. Schools of nursing have moved away from knowledge-level test items and have had to develop more application and analysis items to prepare graduates for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). This same type of question can be used effectively to support a competence assessment system and document critical thinking skills.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. jaucoin@nc.rr.com
authors.forename: Julia W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Aucoin
mesh_terms: D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000592:standards*; D008008:Licensure, Nursing; D011594:Psychometrics; D013850:Thinking; D014956:Writing