Assessment and Career Planning

Assessment and Career Planning Chapter 5 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. Guidelines for Use of Trait-andFactor 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. 1 7 Impleme nt a voca tional choic e Become awa re of ne ed to make career decisions 2 Le arn about and/or re eva luate self Resources 6 Ma ke educ ational choic es (w ebsites, databases, print materials, software) 3 Identify occupational alterna tives 5 Ma ke tentative choic es from among a vaila ble occupations 4 Obtain information about ide ntified alterna tives Assessment and the Career Planning Process • Step 1 - may use an instrument to measure career maturity, career beliefs or decisionmaking style • Step 2 - may use inventories to measure interests, abilities, skills, work values, or personality type 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. 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. Purposes of Assessment • Counselors can learn more about the needs (decision-making skills, career maturity, removal of irrational beliefs) of clients. • Counselors can learn more about the characteristics (interests, abilities, skills, values, personality) of clients. Purposes of Assessment • Clients can learn more about themselves (such as their interests, skills, abilities, work values, personality type). • Counselors can measure the progress (in acquiring career maturity,decision-making skills, career decidedness) of an individual or group of individuals. 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 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 Types of Informal Assessment • • • • • • Checklists Games Career fantasies Forced-choice activities Card sorts Structured interviews Characteristics of Formal Assessment • 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) 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) Common Interest Inventories • Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS) • Career Assessment Inventory (CAI) • Career Occupational Preference Survey (COPS) • Career Quest • Harrington-O’Shea Career DecisionMaking System (CDMS) 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 Common Interest Inventories, continued • Self-Directed Search (SDS) • Strong Interest Inventory (SII) • Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory (UNIACT) • Vocational Interest Inventory Common Instruments to Measure Skills and Abilities • • • • • SkillScan WorkKeys Passion Revealer Career Planning Survey O*Net Ability Profiler 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 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 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 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 No-Fee Assessment Websites • University of Waterloo Career Services www.careerservices.uwaterloo.ca • 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 For-Fee Assessment Websites • Kuder Career Planning System www.kuder.com • Self-Directed Search - www.self-directedsearch.com Types of Reports • 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 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. 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.