This is Volume 18, Issue 1 2005, a Special Issue of Applied Measurement in Education looking at the area of Vertically Moderated Standard Setting. As well as the editor’s introduction this collection includes six articles which cover: background on the need for YMSS, and presents a strong argument for aligning policy aims and psychometric methods to achieve coherent systems of educational assessments in general, and corresponding performance standards; background on YMSS and discusses possible alternatives; the third article, examines YMSS from the perspective of the sponsoring agency or authority responsible for conducting and applying standard-setting procedures; in kindergarten through 12th-grade applications, ; a recounting of the road to a system of vertically moderated standards across Grades 3 through 8 for a state-level science assessment program in South Carolina; describing the situations for which YMSS is a viable alternative to vertical scaling or equating and finally, an example of YMSS applied to the South Carolina student assessments in English language arts and mathematics across Grades 3 through 7.
