Project Overview
The Canadian Organization of Paramedic Regulators (COPR) is a National organization whose mandate is to represent the collective interests of Canada’s 10 provincial regulators. Key among those interests in the provision of safe and ethical care from licensed, competent, and qualified paramedics.
In support of this goal, COPR published a request for proposals in 2010 for expertise in the design, development, and implementation of two national entry-to-practice examinations in Canada, for Primary and Advanced Care Paramedics. Meazure Learning (formerly Yardstick) was awarded this contract. And in May 2012, Meazure Learning and COPR successfully launched the first national entry to practice examinations for the paramedic profession in Canada.
These first, and all subsequent examinations were developed in accordance with best practice in the testing industry, ensuring psychometric defensibility and fairness to test-takers. This approach has set the COPR Entry to Practice Examinations on a solid foundation, ensuring that the public is protected and guaranteeing that those who are licensed possess sufficient knowledge and skill to perform paramedic activities safely and effectively.
In May 2012, Meazure Learning and COPR successfully launched the first national entry to practice examinations for the paramedic profession in Canada.
What We Did
Meazure Learning has continued to work with COPR on the Entry to Practice exam to the present day, continuously evolving the program in ways that add value to COPR and test-takers alike. Key examples include the introduction of item modeling and automated item generation (AIG) in 2014, making COPR the first Canadian licensing organization to use this methodology. As a result of this initiative, COPR and Meazure LearningS have been accepted to present at professional testing conferences on multiple occasions including twice in 2018, at ATP and CLEAR. In 2016, Meazure Learning helped COPR make the shift to a scaled-scoring methodology and associated diagnostic test-taker and school reports to improve the interpretability of examination results. We continue to work together to ensure that the item bank continues to support different versions of the national exam in both English and French.
The COPR Entry to Practice examination is currently administered to approximately 900 test-takers a year across the country. Meazure Learning coordinates and monitors the delivery of each administration, providing training and support and ensuring the ongoing development, maintenance and analysis of each exam.