Fair, valid, and reliable measurement of dependent variables is a concern in personnel evaluation studies. Performance tests, that is, job or work sample tests, situational tests, and job learning or trainability tests, are being used with increasing frequency as measurement techniques capable of meeting these needs. The three categories of…

Although the use of personality traits as criteria for performance appraisal is still dominant, behavior-oriented measures of job performance have become more and more popular. One such test used, Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS), seems to have two shortcomings. The individual scales are multidimensional, making it difficult for a rater…

This paper provides a summary of thoughts, resources, ideas, and a review of the state-of-the-art provisions of vocational assessment services for the visually impaired. The paper is organized in seven sections. The first section provides definitions of vocational assessment and the related terms of career assessment, educational/psychological…

This paper presents the results of a benchmarking, validity, and generalizability study of the use of teacher work samples to assess the ability of preservice and inservice teachers to meet program and state teaching standards and to impact the learning of the students they teach. The assessment approach builds upon the Teacher Work Sample…

An equating study was conducted on the Certifying Examination for Primary Care Physician's Assistants to compare the ability of current examinees with the standardization group and to determine if current test items are more difficult than previous items. Using 46 common items from the multiple choice section, the 1978 exam was equated to the 1976…

Locally developed occupational tests were administered to 16- and 17-year-olds in a government-sponsored vocational education program in the United Kingdom over a six-month period in 1984. Job skills were tested in two occupational areas: use of a micrometer and invoice completion. Some performance tests were designed by researchers and some by…

Personnel selection processes for physically demanding jobs often discriminate against women, minorities, and handicapped individuals. Developing and validating job-related performance tests requires the assessment of the physical demands of a job and of the same physical capabilities in individuals. Job analysis is a systematic assessment…

In the domain of performance assessment, the errors-and-omissions (EOT) test falls between a work-sample test and a simulation test. The examinee works with a sample of material from the work environment. The correct answers and the exact criteria for acceptable performance are known in advance. For this study, EOTs were used for assessing entry…