Escalate a field to the next group after two years below 100

The advice. “If you can’t get 100 in two years, then you jump to next group process.”

With the reasoning attached: “College educator preparation programs are not going to have enough of a programmatic change to have an impact within two years, but after two years you need to consider this.”

Why. Without a rule like this, a low-incidence field that never reaches 100 examinees waits indefinitely for a form it will never be able to equate, and the programme keeps re-using a single form — the exact security and fairness risk it is trying to avoid. Two years is chosen because it is long enough that educator preparation pipeline changes would have shown up if they were coming, and short enough that the risk does not compound.

Escalation means moving to the next group’s approach, which for Groups 3 and 4 is standard-setting driven with no equating.

Status. Open. This is a policy rule that would need writing into the contract or into OEE’s operating procedure.