APA Task Force Convened on Test User Qualifications

Who is qualified to administer, score, or interpret specific tests and for what purpose are they qualified to do so? Because the answers to these questions are critical to many in the testing arena, APA established a Task Force on Test User Qualifications. The Task Force, a joint Science and Practice Directorate effort, will try to answer these and other testing questions on behalf of APA. The Task Force's findings should result in guidelines for use by APA members and others.

The task force met for the first time in October 1996 and adopted the following charges:

  1. To review and summarize the results of previous efforts to develop guidelines on test user qualifications;

  2. To extend this prior work to address the issues of assessment context, purpose, and specific application as critical variables in the definition and description of test user qualifications;

  3. To describe the knowledge and set of skills necessary for psychologists to administer, score, and interpret assessment instruments in a competent and responsible manner that best serves the interests of the public;

  4. To develop a set of guidelines to be adopted by APA in order to (a) inform psychologists of the knowledge and skills required for the responsible conduct of assessment; (b) influence the curriculum of graduate training programs; (c) assist test publishers in determining appropriate qualifications for test users; (d) inform the public about appropriate test user qualifications; and (e) inform regulatory, disciplinary, accrediting, and credentialing bodies (e.g., ethics committees, accreditation committees, and licensing boards) about test user qualifications to assist in their development of standards, regulations, or guidelines.

The Task Force comprises APA members with specific areas of psychometric expertise in different areas of psychology, which were identified by APA's Board and Council as relevant to the project. The areas are clinical psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, school psychology, counseling psychology, educational psychology, forensic psychology, and neuropsychology. Cochaired by Steve Demers, PhD, and Sam Turner, PhD, the Task Force includes Bill Foote, PhD, Leaetta Hough, PhD, Bob Ivnik, PhD, Scott Meier, PhD, Kevin Moreland, PhD, and Celiane Rey-Casserly, PhD.

The Task Force's next meeting is scheduled for January 1997.

For additional information, please contact Dianne Brown, APA Director for Testing and Assessment, in the Science Directorate, at (202) 336-6000; or via e-mail at dcb.apa@email.apa.org.



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