A group of six writers for each area – four agricultural educators and two extension agents
– indicated beforehand that they would participate in the two-day item writing workshop. Full
participation from the selected panelists was anticipated, but some members did not show as
inclement weather likely made travel difficult. At the workshop the two extension agents
specializing in animal systems and two of the agricultural educators in the plant systems were
not present. To alleviate this problem, one agricultural educator participated in both animal and
plant systems since his expertise spanned both disciplines. Two additional members facilitating
the workshop participated in the plant systems group as additional item writers and item
validators because the group was short agricultural educators. Both had prior experience in plant