Modules 6 and 7 Assessment in Career Counseling

1
Modules 6 and 7 Assessment in Career Counseling

• Chapters 6-7

2
Important Concepts

• Assessment vs. Testing
• Informal/formal interviews
• Behavioral observations
• Mental status exams
• Anecdotal records
• Self reports
• School records
• Information from families

3
Ethical Standards include Assessment

• Section E Evaluation, Assessment, and
  Interpretation
• Counselors use assessment instruments as one
  component of the counseling process, taking into
  account the clients personal and cultural
  context. Counselors promote the well-being of
  individual clients or groups of clients by
  developing and using appropriate education,
  psychological, and career assessment instruments.

4
Standardized Tests -Definitions

• Psychological Test-Objective and standardized
  measure
• Prediction future behavior
• Diagnostic current behavior
• Standardization uniformity of procedure
• Norms comparing your score to others who also
  took the test.
• Objective measurement a measure independent of
  the subjective judgment of the examiner.

5
Three necessary Qualifications for any
standardized test -

• Appropriateness
• Reliable test produces repeatable, dependable,
  consistent results
• Test-Retest, Alternate Forms, Internal
  Consistency, Inter-rater
• Valid Four types
• Face
• Content
• Criterion predictive, concurrent
• Construct philosophical underpinnings

6
Five Broad Categories of Tests

• Achievement GRE, ACT, SAT, Millers Analogy
  (MAT), etc
• Intelligence - Wechsler, Standford-Binet.
• Aptitude special abilities, Minnesota Spatial
  Relations Test.
• Personality - MMPI, Myers Briggs Type Indicator.
• Career Assessment Strong Interest Inventory.

7
Choosing a Test

• General Information
• Purpose Nature of Test.
• Practical Evaluation
• Technical Evaluation
• Reviewer Comments
• Summary Evaluation

8
Qualitative Assessment

• Non Standardized often self-assessment measures
• Work History Reflection
• Skills Assessment
• Employee Contentment Quiz
• Twenty Questions
• Job Environment Preference
• Pick a Style
• Career Autobiography
• Life Line
• Narrative (Success Experiences)
• Early Recollections

9
Bell Shaped Curve

• Refers to a symmetrical curve around a mean.
• The curve can be computed using an equation
• Most educational and psychological variables
  (intelligence) have a bell distribution
• The mean is at the midpoint (50th percentile)

10
Percentile Equivalents

• Highly popular way of describing standardized
  scores
• The average fits between the 25th and 75th
  percentile.
• Always check out the norm group.

11
Stanine Scores

• Standard score with nine approximately equal
  units.
• The mean stanine is 5.
• The standard deviation is 2.
• Scores are presented as a range rather than as
  points on a scale.

12
Grade Equivalents

• A way of transforming raw scores into a
  standardized format.
• Based on grade level and 10 months of the year.
• 10.5 would mean that the student is performing at
  a 10th grade level during the month of February.

13
Expectancy Table

• Think of the ACT scores.
• Counselors use this to advise students about
  their chances in college.
• Number not in parentheses are the number of
  students whose grade point averages are in the
  designated range.
• Number in the parentheses are the cumulative
  percents of individuals within a particular ACT
  range.

14
Using Assessment in Career Counseling

• Standard Error of Measurement
• T O-E
• A persons true score can only be obtained if you
  have a perfect instrument, a perfect setting, and
  a perfect person.
• Dont be overconfident about test scores
• Use several instruments if possible
• Be tentative in everything you say when
  discussing someones score