Adjusting the Passing Scores for Gearing Up for Safety: Production Agriculture Safety Training for Youth Curriculum Test Instruments

Minimum passing scores for the Gearing Up for Safety: Production Agriculture Safety Training for Youth curriculum (Gearing Up for Safety) were set in 2006 with widely used and established procedures by efforts of subject matter experts (French, Breidenbach et al., 2007; French, Field, and Tormoehlen, 2006, 2007). While providing a research–based curriculum designed to assist in identifying youth who are ready to operate agricultural tractors and machinery, the Gearing Up for Safety curriculum also meets current requirements of the Agricultural Hazardous Occupation Orders (AgHOs) (Ortega, 2003). However, no work has been conducted to re–examine if the evaluative scores are appropriate or if adjustments should be made after field administration of the tests. The purpose of this study was to examine the appropriateness of those passing scores utilizing a compromise or adjustment method (Beuk, 1984). Although the group of experts rejected the recommendations for adjusting passing scores, the panel and researchers were able to review the empirical performance of the three test instruments as a curriculum package for the first time since the Gearing Up for Safety curriculum was developed over a decade ago. Passing standards, established from previous research, were also strengthened through research and re–evaluation (French, Field, et al., 2006, 2007).