title: Standard setting in medical education: fundamental concepts and emerging challenges.
abstract: The process of determining the minimum pass level to separate the competent students from those who do not perform well enough is called standard setting. A large number of methods are widely used to set cut-scores for both written and clinical examinations. There are some challenging issues pertaining to any standard setting procedure. Ignoring these concerns would result in a large dispute regarding the credibility and defensibility of the method. The goal of this review is to provide a basic understanding of the key concepts and challenges in standard setting and to suggest some recommendations to overcome the challenging issues for educators and policymakers who are dealing with decision-making in this field.
authors.affiliation: 1. MD, MSc, PhD student, Medical Education Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. sa_mortazhejri@razi.tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mortaz Hejri
authors.affiliation: 2. MD, Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine Department, Medical Education Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mjalili@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jalili
keywords: Reliability; Standard setting; Student assessment; Validity