Best practice guidelines indicate that the score a student must achieve to move forward in a program
should be chosen 1) after a complete review of the test’s psychometric parameters available from the
test vendor; 2) after consideration of demographic and cultural issues among the student population;
and 3) perhaps most importantly, after an assessment of the ethical and empirical basis for setting
the cut score. The rigor and complexity of setting cut scores is more fully outlined by Zieky and
Perie (2006); it is a process followed closely in setting the NCLEX-RN passing score (Wendt and
Kenny, 2007). Because schools are generally unequipped to undertake such a process, they may
make cut score determinations in arbitrary ways. Faculty must be especially guarded in their decision
making when little or no evidence exists to guide the setting of cut scores.