To whom does the GBEC report?

  • The GBEC reports to the House of Bishops and to the General Convention.

 

How do I know the General Ordination Exam is fair?

  • Unlike many academic exams, the GOE and its supporting materials - such as standards and scoring rubrics - are not created by a single individual but by specialized teams of Board Members and other volunteers whose proposed questions in each canonical area are reviewed by the staff, a professional testing consultant, and the entire Board. This Board includes Bishops, seminary and other educational institution faculty members, parish priests, and lay people experienced in the Church and in education. Together they must approve each part of the entire GOE. This process is designed to eliminate bias in the questions. As a whole, the Board accepts responsibility for the integrity of the GOE, as it does for that of the evaluation of GOE answers. This is why the names of all Board Members and the Executive Director/GOE Administrator appear on the exam certificate.

 

How does the GBEC evaluate its own work?

  • The GBEC formally and informally evaluates its work every year. It formally collects and discusses feedback about the GOE and the evaluation process from Board Members, Evaluators, Editors, office staff, and professionals in the field of educational testing. The Executive Director evaluates all participants. The GBEC formally reviews the entire annual process of the GOE creation, administration, and evaluation, and it keeps performance statistics in each canonical area. It also consults with and receives feedback from Bishops, seminary deans, Candidates, psychometricians, and other consultants  and sources.

 

How does the GBEC manage its work?

 

How does the GBEC take into account cultural and ethnic differences?

  • General Convention elects the Board. The GBEC Executiuve Director tries to appoint a volunteer corps of Editors, Evaluators, Office Staff and Question Writers which is as diverse as possible with regard to culture, ethnicity, experience, gender and geography. Also, the GBEC tries to be deliberately attentive to possible problems of cultural differences posed by GOE questions.