In the early development process, before we start writing items associated with any given stimulus, such as reading passages, political cartoons, or integrated computer task (ICT) topics, Board approval is required.
The item developers primarily at ETS consist of professionals that are concentrated in their content area (e.g., reading and writing curricula).
ETS, like any other large entity in the assessment industry, is required to follow the joint standards from the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in the development of items, which include attention to bias and fairness as well as reliability and validity.