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POST advisory committee reviews PELLET B score trends and urges agencies to re-evaluate local cut scores
Summary
POST staff presented an analysis of PELLET B administrations (Jan 2020–Dec 2025) showing multi-year score declines through 2024 and score increases after test revisions in 2025; POST recommended agencies monitor distributions and consider re-evaluating their local cut scores rather than adopting an immediate statewide change.
Yana Medina, research data specialist with the Strategic Communications and Research Bureau at the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), told the advisory committee that analyses of the entry-level law enforcement test battery (PELLET B) show a downward trend in reading, writing and total T-scores from 2020 through 2024 and a rise beginning in 2025 after instrument revisions.
"The PELLET B is designed to measure basic reading and writing abilities for peace officer candidates," Medina said, noting POST examined all administrations from January 2020 through December 2025. She said the 2025 score increases coincide with revisions to selected items, removal of a subtest and recalibration of scoring procedures intended to improve clarity and test quality.
Medina stressed that the underlying reasons for the 2020–2024 decline are unknown and may reflect external factors beyond POST's control; the 2025 increases are likely related to the documented test changes. She added that POST's statistical analyses continue to show solid psychometric performance for the examination.
The presentation reiterated POST's longstanding guidance that agencies should "re-evaluate their cut scores if they observe changes in score distributions." Medina said POST has suggested a cut score of 42 as a research-informed reference, but "POST does not establish or enforce a standardized cut score" and testing agencies retain discretion to set scores that match local hiring needs.
During questions, Tammy Morell of the California Academy Directors Association asked whether POST planned to recommend a different statewide cut score in response to the 2025 upward trend. Medina replied that POST would continue to collect and monitor data before making any statewide recommendations, emphasizing the need for additional evidence before changing guidance.
Assistant Executive Director Jim Grokow publicly recognized Medina's sustained work on the project and warned the committee that hiring specialized research staff has been difficult, a constraint that could affect longer-term monitoring work.
What happens next: POST said its examination development and research team will continue item-level analysis and monitor score trends; agencies are encouraged to review local score distributions and adjust cut scores as appropriate to their candidate pools and hiring objectives.
