Exam Administration SOP — Guild-Internal Assessments¶

Status: Draft, pre-formation. Adopted on board approval of the certification program.

Scope¶

This SOP covers assessments the Guild itself administers. It does not cover the Ganjier-program credentialing exam — the Guild does not administer that exam (see ADR-0008).

Assessments in scope:

Assessment type	Where it runs	Stakes
Course quizzes / unit assessments	Moodle on `learn.ganjierguild.com`	Course-completion gating; CE-hour award
Capstone reviews (if a course requires one)	Moodle assignment + assessor panel	Course completion
Instructor calibration assessments	Moodle (annual)	Faculty good-standing
Oral interview (only when explicitly defined for a Guild course or recognition)	Zoom + recorded transcript + scoring rubric	Course completion
Guild Code of Ethics annual attestation	Member portal form	Profile good-standing

Out of scope for this SOP: any externally-administered exam (Ganjier-program credentialing exam, third-party CE provider exams the Guild does not run).

Roles¶

Role	Responsibility
Course Author	Designs the assessment items and the rubric. Reviews item performance after each cohort.
Lead Assessor	Convenes the assessor panel for capstones / oral interviews; signs the assessment record. Must be calibrated within the last 12 months.
Assessor (panelist)	Scores against the published rubric. Two assessors per high-stakes capstone; three for oral interviews.
Proctor	Administers timed/closed-book assessments where applicable; verifies identity; monitors environment; logs incidents.
Accommodations Coordinator	Reviews and grants documented accommodations under the Guild Accessibility Policy. Single point of contact for candidates.
Education & Certification Committee	Owns this SOP. Approves new assessment formats and rubric changes. Reviews appeals (see `appeals-and-revocation.md`).

Pre-administration checklist (per cohort)¶

Assessment items reviewed against the course's published learning outcomes
Rubric reviewed by at least one assessor not involved in authoring
Item bank rotated (items in this cohort match the bank-rotation policy: at least 30% items new or substantially revised vs. prior cohort)
Accommodations requests received and approved at least 5 business days before the assessment date
Lead Assessor and panel calibrated within last 12 months
Proctoring tool tested for the cohort's platform mix
Sensory kit (where applicable) prepared per the kit checklist (see below)
Candidate-facing instructions published on the course page at least 7 days in advance

Course quizzes & unit assessments (Moodle)¶

Format. Mixed: multiple-choice, multi-select, short-answer, scenario-based. Authored in Moodle's question bank. Items tagged by learning outcome and difficulty.

Conditions. Open-book by default for unit assessments. Final assessments may be timed or closed-book if the course's published syllabus says so. Time limits and attempt counts are documented on the course page.

Scoring. Auto-scored where possible; short-answer items are routed to the Course Author for human scoring within 5 business days. Pass/fail thresholds are published on the course page.

Outcome handling.

Pass. Course-completion certificate issued via mod_customcert. CE hours posted to the member's CE ledger with category tagging.
Fail. Candidate may retake per the course's retake policy (default: one retake after a 7-day waiting period). A second failure surfaces a one-on-one office hours offer with the Course Author before any third attempt.

Auditability. Every attempt log, score, and assessor comment is retained in Moodle for at least 7 years per the Guild records-retention schedule.

Capstone reviews¶

Used only for courses whose published syllabus requires a capstone artifact.

Format. Candidate submits a written or media artifact (e.g., sensory tasting log + reflection memo). Two assessors score independently against the published rubric. Discrepancies > 1 rubric band trigger a third assessor.

Conflicts of interest. Assessors disclose any prior coaching, employment, or close personal relationship with the candidate before accepting the assignment. The Lead Assessor reassigns if a conflict is disclosed. See instructor-and-assessor-standards.md for the COI policy.

Outcome handling. Pass / pass-with-revision / fail. Pass-with-revision allows one revision cycle within 30 days. Fail follows the same retake policy as final assessments.

Oral interview SOP (when used)¶

Some advanced courses or recognitions may include an oral interview. When they do, this section applies.

Use case. When a course's learning outcomes include defensible reasoning, judgment under uncertainty, or articulating ethical positions — things a written assessment cannot validate cleanly.

Format.

45 minutes per candidate, recorded with candidate consent
Three assessors on panel; one is Lead Assessor
Three sections: (1) prepared response to a published prompt, (2) extemporaneous case discussion, (3) ethics scenario
Each section scored independently on a 4-point rubric; aggregated score determines pass/fail

Pre-interview.

Candidate receives the prepared-prompt list 14 days in advance
Candidate receives accommodation confirmation, if any, 5 days in advance
Panel reads the candidate's submitted prep memo (if part of the course design) within 48 hours of the interview
Tech check call with candidate 24 hours in advance (Zoom audio, lighting, document share)

During the interview.

Lead Assessor opens with a standard script (recorded for consistency)
Each panelist asks within their assigned section; cross-section questions only after all sections complete
Panelists do not signal scoring intent during the interview
If the candidate experiences a tech issue, Lead Assessor pauses and re-confirms when ready; up to 10 minutes of paused time does not count against the 45-minute clock

Post-interview.

Panelists score independently within 60 minutes of the interview ending, before any panel discussion
Lead Assessor convenes a 15-minute panel debrief; if score range is ≤ 1 rubric band, the average is the score; if > 1 rubric band, panelists discuss and may revise (revisions logged with reason)
Candidate receives outcome and a brief written feedback summary within 5 business days

Recording handling. Recordings are stored in the Guild's restricted storage for 12 months, then deleted. Recordings are released to the candidate on request. Recordings are not released to third parties without subpoena or candidate consent.

Accommodations policy¶

The Guild administers assessments under an explicit accessibility policy. The Accommodations Coordinator is the single point of contact. Candidates request accommodations at registration; documentation is held confidentially.

Standard accommodations available on request:

Accommodation	Detail
Extended time	+50% or +100% on timed assessments
Separate / quiet environment	For proctored sessions
Screen reader compatibility	Verified during tech check
Captioning / transcript	For oral interview and recorded course content
Rest breaks	Built into long-format assessments
Alternative format submission	Audio/video in place of written, with rubric translation

Sensory kit (for sensory-track courses). Where a course assessment requires evaluating physical samples, the Guild ships a standardized sensory kit to the candidate's address at least 14 days before the assessment. Kit contents are inventoried per the kit-spec doc held by the Course Author. Candidates with allergies or dietary restrictions notify the Coordinator at registration; alternative kits or alternate assessment formats are arranged.

Religious observance. Assessments are not scheduled on major federal U.S. holidays or on the candidate's declared observance days. Candidates may request a make-up window without penalty.

Documentation standard. The Guild accepts documentation from any licensed provider in any U.S. jurisdiction. The Guild does not require diagnosis disclosure beyond what's needed to identify the appropriate accommodation.

Identity verification¶

For high-stakes assessments (final assessments, capstones, oral interviews):

Candidate confirms identity via member-portal login + a one-time verification step (photo of government ID matched to profile name, or live ID check during the proctored session)
Identity verification record is logged in the assessment record; ID images are not stored after verification
Candidates may decline ID storage; they cannot decline ID display during a live proctored session

Incident handling¶

If during administration:

A technical failure interrupts the candidate → Proctor logs the incident with timestamps; candidate is offered a make-up session at no cost; original attempt is voided
A suspected integrity violation occurs (e.g., unauthorized aid) → Proctor pauses the assessment if safe to do so, documents observations factually (no accusations), and routes the incident to the Education & Certification Committee. Candidate is informed in writing within 2 business days; due-process review follows the appeals-and-revocation.md pathway.
A medical or safety event occurs → Proctor stops the assessment immediately; candidate's wellbeing takes priority; make-up offered at no cost.

Records and retention¶

Record	Retention
Attempt logs (Moodle)	7 years
Capstone artifacts	5 years
Oral interview recordings	12 months
Rubric scoring sheets	7 years
Identity-verification records	90 days post-assessment
Accommodations documentation	3 years post last assessment
Incident reports	7 years

Records are stored in the Guild's restricted storage tier (see tech/systems-inventory.md).

Continuous improvement¶

After each cohort, the Course Author + Lead Assessor produce a one-page assessment report covering:

Item performance (any items with an unusual fail rate or low discrimination)
Rubric drift (assessor agreement)
Candidate feedback
Accommodations volume and any patterns suggesting a baseline change
Proposed item bank rotation for next cohort

The report is filed with the Education & Certification Committee. Patterns affecting multiple cohorts trigger a rubric review.