An O*NET Academy Briefing Whole Person Assessment Using the O*NET Career Exploration Tools Presented by Dr. JanetWall Presented by Dr. Janet Wall Senior Trainer, O*NET Academy

Goals of Webinar Discuss concept of assessment Review kinds and purposes of assessment To introduce you to the 3 O*NET career exploration tools –Interest Profiler –Work Importance Profiler –Ability Profiler To show you how these tools help to direct you to occupational information

Two Major Documents Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, NCME, APA, 1999) Testing and Assessment: A Guide to Good Practices for Workforce Investment Professionals (December, 2007) from

What is Assessment? A systematic way of gathering information about a person’s behavior or characteristics Data Gathering Techniques (a few) –Observation –Interview –Test –Checklist –Rating Scale

Purposes of Assessment in Workforce Development Career counseling and development –Use assessment information about clients’ backgrounds, experiences, interests, abilities, self-esteem –Identify other personal characteristics that help or inhibit their work readiness and career planning

Purposes of Assessment in Workforce Development Training –help identify those applicants and employees who might benefit from either remedial or advanced training –monitor individual progress –evaluate training effectiveness

Decide on Your Purpose for Using Assessment Why do you want student or client information? What are you trying to do/know? Standard 11.4 The test user should have a clear rationale for the intended uses of a test or evaluation procedure in terms of its validity and contribution to the assessment and decision- making process.

Match Your Purpose to Assessment’s Purpose What Assessment Can Measure –knowledge, skills, abilities, personality traits, –work styles, work values, vocational interests, managerial potential, sales potential, physical skills, –job satisfaction

Check Technical Information To determine –Match to target audience –Whether or not the instrument measures what you want to measure –How results can and should be used according to the research available Standard 11.1 Prior to the adoption and use of a published test, the test user should study and evaluate the materials provided by the test developer. Of particular importance are those that summarize the test’s purposes, specify the procedures for test administration, define the intended populations of test takers, and discuss the score interpretations for which validity and reliability data are available.

Multiple Perspectives No one assessment should be used in career exploration and career guidance. Include other information as well – personality, motivation, preferences, emotional intelligence, etc. Standard In educational, clinical, and counseling settings, a test taker’s score should not be interpreted in isolation; collateral information that may lead to alternative explanations for the examinee’s test performance should be considered.

Assessment in Workforce Development

Typical Career Development Programs Assessment helps here.

Three Major Foci of Career Development Programs What You Like -- INTERESTS What You Value -- WORK VALUES What You Know and Can Do -- ABILITIES O*NET Assessment Tools provide each.

O*NET Career Exploration Tools Developed only for career exploration, career counseling Not for job selection or selection into job training programs Standard 11.2 When a test is to be used for a purpose for which little or no documentation is available, the user is responsible for obtaining evidence of the test’s validity and reliability for this purpose.

Kinds and Versions of Tools ToolFormatPurpose O*NET Interest ProfilerPaper/PencilWork-related Interests O*NET Computerized Interest Profiler Standalone or Network Work-related Interests O*NET Work Importance Locator Paper/PencilWhat is Important in a Job (Values) O*NET Work Importance Profiler Standalone or Network What is Important in a Job (Values) O*NET Ability ProfilerPaper/PencilWhat Individual Can Do Well (Ability)

Many Support Materials

Excellent Web Resources

Review of Instruments

What Interests You? The Interest Profiler

Relevance People who have interests that are congruent with their occupations are happier, more productive, and are likely to stay on the job. Many career development programs focus on interests as the primary exploration factor for a person.

Areas Measured The O*NET Interest Profiler and Computerized Interest Profiler measure six types of occupational interests: Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional

O*NET Occupations Master List Computerized version offers the occupations automatically

Sample of Master List Note: Job Zones

Versions Available Paper/pencil Computerized –single desktop –computer network Paper and computer files can be downloaded off the onetcenter.org website –not Internet-delivered and scored

What Do You Value? The Work Importance Profiler

Relevance People who hold work values that are supported by their work situation are happier, more productive, and are likely to stay on the job.

Areas Measured Achievement Independence Recognition Relationships Support Working Conditions

Versions Available Paper/pencil Computerized –single desktop –computer network Paper and computer files can be downloaded off the onetcenter.org website –not Internet-delivered and scored

Work Values Master List Computerized version gives occupations automatically

Combined Master List Job ZoneInterestWork Value

The Ability Profiler What Can You Do? What are Your Work-Related Skills? Paper-based instrument

Eleven Subtests Non-PsychomotorPsychomotor Arithmetic ReasoningMark Making (paper/pencil) VocabularyPlace Three-Dimensional SpaceTurn ComputationAssemble Name ComparisonDisassemble Object Matching PowerSpeeded

Automated Scoring Scoring program can be downloaded from Individual score report provided Occupations for all 5 jobs zones are provided for the person’s profile

Job Zone 1 Occupations

Job Zone 2 Occupations

Job Zone 3 Occupations

Job Zone 4 Occupations

Job Zone 5 Occupations

Exploring an Occupation Select occupation to explore – based on INTEREST, WORK VALUES, OR ABILITITES Example: Instructors Go to O*NET ONLINE –

O*NET Online

Select Occupation

Obtain Summary Report

Some Supporting Webinars How to Download and Use the O*NET Interest Profiler and Work Importance Profiler Overview of the O*NET Ability Profiler How to Administer the O*NET Ability Profiler How to Interpret the Ability Profiler O*NET for Job Seekers and Students Linking Education, Occupations and Pay O*NET Tools for Military in Transition O*NET Tools for School Counselors

QUESTIONS ??

Opportunities for You Spotlight – Podcast – audio interview User-Focused Webinars –Contact ASSESSMENT RESOURCES