Every EBAS assessment is scored by two graders working independently, against a rubric that boards and licensees can both read in advance. Each of the four sections earns 1 to 4 points, so an assessment carries 16 possible points and 12 are required to pass. Your board has the result within five to seven business days.
What the licensee is scored on
One assessment presents one scenario with four written prompts, and the licensee answers all four in a 60-minute proctored session, typically one to two paragraphs per section. The four sections are introductory opinion statements, consequences, public protection, and solutions. Together they ask the licensee to name the ethical issues in the scenario, trace who is affected and how, explain the risk to the public, and describe what would resolve the violation and prevent it from happening again.
Scenarios are drawn from real cases and reviewed by a committee before they enter the test bank. Each one is written to a specific occupation and violation type, which is why a nurse and a dentist facing the same Boundaries category receive different scenarios. EBAS maintains more than 700 and adds new ones on an ongoing basis.
The rubric
Each of the four sections is scored against the same four bands.
| Score | Band |
|---|---|
| 4 | Outstanding |
| 3 | Sufficient to pass |
| 2 | Insufficient to pass |
| 1 | Extremely insufficient |
The published rubric writes out the criteria for each band, section by section. For a full scenario alongside the criteria graders apply to it, see Sample Assessment and Scoring Rubric.
Who grades, and how the scores stay consistent
Graders are subject matter experts. Most are former board members, some are current board members, and a few are administrative law judges. They are not matched to the licensee’s profession, and that is deliberate. Assignment is random across the pool, because a boundary violation involves the same reasoning whether the licensee is a counselor or a physician.
Neither grader sees the licensee’s name or state. When the two agree on pass or fail their scores are averaged, and when they split the lead grader decides. Behind that, a psychometrician on staff tests inter-rater reliability and runs an annual calibration across the grader pool. The validation research underneath the instrument is covered in Validity and Reliability of the EBAS Assessment.
What your board receives
Your board and the licensee both receive a pass or fail result with per-section detail. Across all assessments, roughly 70 percent of licensees pass.
The report carries no recommendation about licensure, remediation, or discipline. Keeping the evaluation separate from the consequence lets a board show the assessment was independent of the body imposing the discipline.
Reading your own board’s report
A score report review is a short call with the EBAS team to walk through a specific report section by section, including what a low score in one section and not another is showing.
