Assessment and Career Planning Publisher to insert cover image here Chapter 5 Assessment and Career Planning Developed by: Jennifer Del Corso

Introduction Assessment is the use of any formal or informal technique to collect data about a client. It is a tool of the trait-and-factor approach, which had its beginning with the three-step career choice process introduced by Frank Parsons. 2

Guidelines for Use of Trait-and-Factor Approach in 21st Century Test data are only one piece of a much larger puzzle. should be used less for prediction and more for identifying new options. The client should be more involved in making the decision about whether to use assessment and for what purposes. The changing demographics of the United States necessitate the need for even more preparation when selecting and using assessments in counseling 3

Assessment and the Career Planning Process Step 1 - may use an instrument to measure career maturity, career beliefs or decision-making style Step 2 - may use inventories to measure interests, abilities, skills, work values, or personality type 4

Assessment and the Career Planning Process Step 3 - Score report from inventories given in Step 2 will suggest occupations. Step 4 - Assessment not likely to be used. Step 5 - Inventories of work-related values may be used to reduce number of options. 5

Assessment and the Career Planning Process Step 6 - Tests that predict success in college or measure achievement in specific subject matter may be used. Step 7 - Instruments that measure work skills or personality type may be used. 6

Purposes of Assessment Counselors can learn more about the needs of students or clients. Counselors can learn more about the characteristics of clients (interests, abilities, skills, values), and clients can learn more about themselves. Counselors can measure the progress of an individual or a group in matters related to career planning. 7

Counselor Responsibilities Follow ethical guidelines provided by professional associations Possess knowledge basic principles of assessment details of specific instruments to be used how to prepare clients/students how to administer properly how to interpret properly follow through with clients appropriately after the assessment 8

Clients’ Rights in Assessments Old model of the trait-and-factor approach (often called the “test-‘em and tell-‘em” approach) should be replaced with a view of assessment that: a) respects assessment is just one of the tools available to assist clients, b) should be administered with the person’s full understanding of its purpose, c) prepares the client, administers the instrument corrects, d) treats the results in the confidential manner, and e) interprets the results in a knowledgeable way 9

Characteristics of Informal Assessment Instruments not subjected to scientific study Results for one person cannot be compared with those of others No standard linkage between results and occupational choices No standard way to interpret results Low cost or free materials 10

Types of Informal Assessment Checklists Games Career fantasies Forced-choice activities Card sorts Structured interviews 11

Characteristics of Formal Assessment May be timed, standardized tests or non-timed, standardized inventories. Standardized way to administer and interpret the instrument Known validity (instrument measures what it claims to measure) Known reliability (results of a later administration will be highly similar to those of first administration) Test-retest reliability (defined as the correlation between two measurements obtained in the same manner) 12

Characteristics of Formal Assessment Fairness related to diversity (instrument adequately researched with kinds of individuals who will later take the instrument) Measures of comparison (compares the scores of one individual with those of others) 13

Common Interest Inventories Career Assessment Inventory (CAI) Career Occupational Preference Survey (COPS) Career Quest Harrington-O’Shea Career Decision-Making System (CDMS) 14

Common Interest Inventories continued Interest Determination, Exploration, and Assessment System (IDEAS) Interest Explorer Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS) Kuder Career Search with Person Match O*Net Interest Profiler 15

Common Interest Inventories continued Self-Directed Search (SDS) Strong Interest Inventory (SII) Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory (UNIACT) Vocational Interest Inventory 16

Common Instruments to Measure Skills and Abilities Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS) SkillScan WorkKeys Passion Revealer The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) Career Planning Survey O*Net Ability Profiler 17

Other Inventories Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - measures personality type O*Net Work Importance Profiler - measures the importance of six work values Super’s Work Values Inventory - measures the importance of 12 work values 18

Steps of the Assessment Process Prepare students/clients for assessment Administer instrument(s) properly Interpret instrument(s) properly Follow through to assist students/clients to use results for action planning 19

Ways to Administer and Interpret Assessment Print form - manual or optical scoring; counselor interpretation Computer (standalone or networked) - administration and scoring; counselor or computer interpretation Internet - administration, scoring, and interpretation 20

Advantages of Internet Delivery Can be taken from anywhere 24/7 Immediate scoring and feedback Standard interpretation, though customized Capability to share report with others electronically 21

No-Fee Assessment Websites University of Waterloo Career Services - www.cdm.uwaterloo.ca/steps.asp CareerKey - www.ncsu.edu/careerkey University of Missouri Career Center - http://career.missouri.edu (Select Career Interests Game) Motivational Assessment of Personal Potential - www.assessment.com 22

For-Fee Assessment Websites DISCOVER – www.act.org Kuder Career Planning System - www.kuder.com Self-Directed Search - www.self-directed-search.com 23

Assessment Results Results typically come in print form from the website or computer from which the assessment was taken Raw scores - provide a tally of responses in a specific category; examinee cannot compare personal scores with those of others Percentile scores - compare the scores of one person with those of a selected norm group Stanines – a way to divide percentiles into 9 ranges Standard score – a way to indicate how far (in standard deviations) an individual’s score is from the middle (50th percentile) of a distribution of scores Band of confidence – a range within which an individual score fall 24

Steps in Selection of Instruments Determine purpose of assessment. Consider characteristics of those to be assessed. Determine if norm group for instrument includes characteristics of persons to be tested. Investigate the reliability and validity of the instrument. 25

Steps in Selection of Instruments Read critical reviews and talk to other professionals. Acquire a sample copy, take it, and read publisher’s materials. Administer instrument to a few individuals and practice interpretation. Determine cost and options for administration and scoring. 26