This report examines how selection fairness is influenced by the characteristics of a selection instrument in terms of its distribution of item difficulties, level of item discrimination, degree of item bias, and testing strategy. Computer simulation was used in the administration of either a conventional or Bayesian adaptive ability test to a…

A battery of seven psychomotor/perceptual tests was administered to two samples of Air Force personnel: officer trainees slated to attend undergraduate navigator training, and enlisted airmen in 30 different career fields. The objective was to determine the validity of the battery for the prediction of success in technical training courses. The…

Research resulting in the development of the Specific Aptitude Test Battery for use in selecting inexperienced or untrained individuals for training as Utility Hands (paper goods) was described. Aptitudes measured were form perception, clerical perception, and manual dexterity. Job analysis was performed by observation of the workers' performance…

This paper describes and evaluates the coverage and content validity of the vocational/career education tests available commercially to high school educators. Tests were analyzed with respect to their collective coverage of the vocational/career education curriculum goals appropriate to grades 11 and 12, and the extent to which each possessed good…

This paper concerns two features of a project on the assessment of job potential: the J-Coefficient, and the J-Scale. The J-Coefficient is a means of determining the validity of a test for a position on the basis of (1) the Beta Weights for predicting test scores from a set of elements and (2) estimates of importance of each element in the…

Discusses problems with the Committee on the General Aptitude Test Battery's report "Fairness in Employment Testing" (1989). Finds that, while the report is thorough, major questions remain in a number of areas, including inconsistent definitions, "false negatives," rationale for criteria, and lack of full disclosure. Endorses…

One way for agencies to reduce fiscal stress is to minimize employee turnover. A project undertaken by San Bernardino County (California) to reduce employee turnover through the development, validation, and use of a non-traditional worker selection instrument (biographical inventory) is described. This project was aimed at the specific…

This report describes technical plans and progress during the second year (Fiscal Year 1984) of work on the U.S. Army's Project A: "Improving the Selection, Classification, and Utilization of Army Enlisted Personnel." Project A is a long-range research program developed by the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social…

The need for better validation of professional licensing and certification examinations is discussed in Part I. Predictive criterion-related validation studies are difficult to develop, time consuming, impractical and expensive. Since training and knowledge variables are not necessarily sufficient to predict job proficiency, it appears logical to…

The AAMD-Becker Reading-Free Vocational Interest Inventory is a non-reading vocational preference test for use with mentally retarded persons, particularly the educable mentally retarded at the high school level. Illustrations having occupational significance are presented in forced-choice format for selections. The instrument helps to identify…

A lawsuit involving the National Board for Respiratory Therapy illustrates that certification examinations are vulnerable to complaints of discrimination and employers' misuse of test results. The board's five-step process--position-viability study, personnel survey, job analysis, item writing/test development, and criterion-related validity…

To establish that measures of vocational identity are sensitive to variations in development, researchers need to demonstrate that different patterns of scores on these measures predict subsequent coping with later tasks of vocational development. This study investigated the ability of the Vocational Identity Scale (VIS) to predict coping with a…

Legal employment test precedent cited by courts and employment-related law cited by plaintiffs during teacher certification test (TCT) decisions are discussed to determine their pertinence to test content validity issues. The two main documents involved in such litigation are the "Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures"…

In Arkansas, in reaction to complaints about traditional methods of selection for promotion, the civil service commission has chosen to base promotions in the police department solely on scores on locally-developed objective tests. Items developed and loaded into a computerized test bank were selected from six areas of responsibility: (1) criminal…

These two booklets, one for juvenile counselor candidates and one for test administrators, provide information about the examination developed as part of the evaluation procedures for juvenile counselor candidates in the Standards and Training for Corrections program in California. The candidate information booklet (1) provides background…