The Development of Test Specifications for the Registration Examinations

Abstract

s m ( a d h t c c ontent outline, blueprint, test specifications, content specs, test blueprint. What do these erms have in common? They all refer o the same document. The purpose of est specifications for both the dietiian and the dietetic technician regisration examinations is to communiate to test users a description of the ontent to be included on the examiations and the relative emphasis to e given to each content area. Regisration examination users include andidates, dietetic education proram directors, educators, licensure oards, examination item writers, nd employers. The Commission on Dietetic Regisration’s (CDR) registered dietitian RD) and dietetic technician, regisered (DTR) certification programs re accredited by the National Comission for Certifying Agencies, and dhere to industry gold standards (1). he Standards for Educational and sychological Testing (1) describe vaidity as the degree to which evidence upports the inferences made from est scores. In the case of the registra-