ICVA Volunteer Opportunities

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the International Council for Veterinary Assessment (ICVA^®). We greatly appreciate your time and commitment to setting a higher standard together^®.

 

ASSESSMENTS AND PROJECTS

Item Writing Workshop (IWW)

The Item Writing Workshop is a 3-hour virtual training held in February that provides participants with the tools needed to write effective items for the NAVLE. Please note that attendance is limited, and while participation in the item writer workshop is a prerequisite before writing and reviewing items for the NAVLE, it does not guarantee that participants will be selected for this role. Future volunteers will be selected based on subject area expertise and the needs of the program.

We have noted below which projects require one-time completion of the Item Writing Workshop before participation.

 

NORTH AMERICAN VETERINARY LICENSING EXAMINATION^® (NAVLE^®)

Project Type	IWW Required	Location	Time Commitment
Form Review	Yes	In-person, Philadelphia, PA	2-day meeting
Item Writing**	Yes	Virtual	Write up to 30 new items between March and June Edit items between June and November
Item Review	Yes	In-person, Philadelphia, PA	2-day meeting in November
Pool Review	Yes	In-person, Philadelphia, PA	2-day meeting in December
Standard Setting	Yes	In-person, Location TBD	TBD
Practice Analysis	No	Varies	Varies

** (Note: Item Writing volunteers are required to also attend the Item Review meeting)

 

NAVLE SELF-ASSESSMENT

Project Type	IWW Required	Location	Time Commitment
Form Review	Yes	Virtual	3-hour meeting Review forms online one week before the meeting

 

PROGRESS TEST

Project Type	IWW Required	Location	Time Commitment
Item Writing and Review	Yes	Virtual	One or more 1-hour meetings Write new items on a flexible schedule, depending on the needs of the program
Form Review	Yes	Virtual	TBD
Pool Review	Yes	Virtual	TBD

 

SPECIES SPECIFIC

Project Type	IWW Required	Location	Time Commitment
Form Review	Yes	Virtual	TBD
Standard Setting	Yes	Virtual	TBD

 

VETERINARY EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT (VEA^®)

Project Type	IWW Required	Location	Time Commitment
Form Review	Yes	Virtual	3-hour meeting Review forms online one week before the meeting

 

Note: Travel expenses for in-person meetings will be covered by the ICVA.

 

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

 

• Form Review: SMEs evaluate an assembled form of the exam to ensure it is fair, accurate, and aligns with the exam's blueprint and statistical requirements.
• Item Writing: SMEs are selected annually by areas of expertise and invited to write items based on the needs of the program. For the NAVLE, writing assignments are provided in March with items due in June. Item writers will work with editors between June and November to prepare items for the November Item Review.
• Item Review: As a group, SMEs review all exam items submitted during the current item writing cycle and provide feedback to ensure each item is clear, accurate, fair, and aligns with the exam’s blueprint
• Pool Review: SMEs form teams by content area. Each team will review several hundred items taken from the NAVLE item bank to determine if they are suitable for continued use on exam forms.
• Standard Setting: SMEs determine the passing/cut score for the exam.
• NAVLE Practice Analysis: SMEs evaluate the knowledge required of entry-level veterinarians to maintain the validity and relevance of the NAVLE, validate the tasks performed, their frequency, their importance, and the KSAs required across species and diagnostic categories.