Towards a version 5.0, a major revision of version 4.2.6 (2013)
by a Task force of the Board of Assessment (BoA)
of the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA)
Mark Schittekatte (chair, Belgium), Ana Maria Hernandez Baeza (Spain), Helen Baron (EAWOP), Urszula Brzezińska (Poland), Iris Egberink (The Netherlands), Nigel Evans (BoA convenor, UK), Ian Florance (ETPG) Dragoș Iliescu (Romania) and Steven Joris (Belgium)
The EFPA Board of Assessment (BoA) is updating their Test Review Model (EFPA TRM). The latest version of this EFPA TRM was published in 2013. This review model is extensively used as a standard across Europe in evaluating tests (with many translations around the world). Along with the utilization of technology in assessment, new topics have arisen since the inception of the latest version of the EFPA TRM so a revision is necessary and ongoing now to remain up-to-date.
A frame for the revision was already worked out at the end of 2019, with a list of the most urgent updates (and several templates for comments), but a concrete roadmap of the work was only realized about a year ago. The choice was made to tackle different topics sequentially to manage the workload and to involve separate specialists depending on the topic. An intense collaboration with the utch Committee on Tests and Testing (COTAN), who are also updating their own review system currently, is unavoidable and appropriate for such a very similar, large and technical piece of work.
The main goal of the EFPA Test Review Model is to provide a description and a detailed and rigorous assessment of the tests, scales and questionnaires mainly used in the field of psychological and educational assessment. In other words, offering a tool for assessing the quality of tests.
This information is made available to test users and professionals, in order to improve tests and testing, and to help them to make the right assessment decisions. The EFPA TRM is part of the information strategy of the EFPA, which aims to provide all necessary mainly technical information about the tests in order to enhance its use. This review model aims further to support and encourage the process of harmonizing the quality standards and the reviewing of tests across Europe.
Most necessary changes are additions reflecting advances in testing and psychometrics a.o. more angles on continuous norming and random sampling, new views on reliability and validity issues, the use of algorithms, variations of online/digital testing, gamification and the introduction of AI elements.
Specific feature of the goal of the revision is also to provide more extensive explanations not to become more ‘severe’ regarding quality requirements and related issues. Further the Task force prefers the revision as much as possible as an open process.
Attention is also given to how this EFPA TRM can be implemented by local test commissions. The ‘hurdles’ in this process in different European countries will be tackled before publishing a new version e.g. questions as: reviews by who, whether or not an overall final score for each reviewed instrument, possibilities for financial resources, and considering the impact of negative reviews.
The ongoing EFPA TRM Task force work is already shared at ECP 2023 in Brighton via an Invited Symposium and a paper: Updating the EFPA BoA Test Review Model: a necessary titanic work with many angles and supported by even more shoulders.
Also at a recent congress in Padua New Horizons in Psychological Assessment the revision of the review model was publicly discussed.
The goal is to ‘arrive’ next summer with an updated version that all stakeholders could revise before the EFPA Board of Assessment will publish version 5.0 of their Test Review Model soon afterwards. And whilst this EFPA BoA Test Review Model is encouraged to be adopted by Psychological Associations for official test reviews, it is for all to use ‘as is’ in their work as test constructor, test user, test policy maker, etc. We have many encouraging examples of this EFPA TRM use, also from outside Europe!
