Quality Control & Assurance

Quality assurance of ACTFL's assessment program is a vital part of the process

QCQA
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Quality Assurance Areas

The work of ACTFL Quality Assurance (QA) encompasses a wide range of activities that are critical to ensure the consistent evaluation of examinee performance on ACTFL assessments:

  • Recruiting testers and raters who are well qualified
  • Monitoring tester and rater performance on an ongoing basis
  • Monitoring item performance
  • Maintaining standardized assessment training materials
  • Ensuring rater readiness and offering regular norming opportunities
  • Facilitating rating arbitration and finalizing rating reviews
  • Maintaining QA Councils and appointing QA advisors to advise on rating standards
  • Collaborating with ACTFL Assessment Program to coordinate psychometric reviews of ACTFL assessments
  • Managing ACE Reviews for Credit Recommendations

Rater Recruitment

Achieving high inter-rater reliability in any human-scored assessment begins with recruiting excellent rater candidates whose qualifications and background are appropriate for the assessment.

If you are interested in becoming a rater of the OPIc, WPT or AAPPL assessments, please consult the following pages for role descriptions, qualifications, available languages. If you feel that you’re a good fit for the role, we encourage you to apply for rater training opportunities. In the case of AAPPL, ACTFL opens the application process once a year in November. As well, ACTFL recruits from those individuals who complete the certification requirements for the Oral Proficiency Interview - Computer (OPIc) and the Writing Proficiency Test (WPT).

Certification Appeals Process

ACTFL is committed to a transparent certification process. While not all individuals who apply for certification achieve it, ACTFL’s Quality Assurance Program convenes an Appeals Committee on a quarterly basis to reconsider certification decisions. Candidates for an appeal must meet the following criteria:

  • Certification materials were evaluated inaccurately

and/or

  • There were extenuating circumstances that did not allow for a fair assessment of a candidate’s testing/rating performance

For detailed information on the certification appeals process, visit here.

ACE Credit Recommendations

ACE reviews of ACTFL assessments are managed by the ACTFL Quality Assurance Program. The American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT®) evaluated and recommended college credit for five ACTFL language proficiency assessments. For detailed information on the ACE Credit Recommendations, visit here.