Table 134

Review of Career and Vocational Assessment Instruments

Suitable for
Individuals
Who Are

Brief Description
of Test

Purpose of
Administering Test

Secondarylevel students
and adult
learners with
special needs

Includes inventories
for measuring academic and life skills
and a rating scale
for evaluating health
and attitude, responsibility and selfdiscipline, job interview preparation,
communication, and
auto safety

To assess the functional

academic skills and the
life skills of secondary
students with special
needs

High school
students
adulthood

Measures nine life

skills areas: speaking
and listening, functional writing, words
on common signs
and warning labels,
telephone skills,
money and finance,
food, clothing,
health, and travel
and transportation

To use as both an assessment tool and a

curriculum guide with
sequenced activities
for instructional programs that teach
functional life skills

Norm-referenced, group- Grades 712

administered interest
and adults
inventory

Includes two levels:

level 1, for students
in grades 7 through
9, helps students select courses to take
and careers to begin
exploring; level 2,
for students in grades
1012, helps students
explore postsecondary educational and
career alternatives

To provide information
about students educational goals, interest in
a variety of school subjects and school-related
activities, and interest
in various occupations

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

interest inventory

Measures attributes
(dominant personality
characteristics) and
ability (auditory, visual, and motor) using
a rating scale and occupational interests
usingan inventory
completed by the
student

To assess the career interests, attributes, and

abilities of students
with learning disabilities

Name of Test

Type of Test

Brigance Diagnostic
Inventory of Essential
Skills (Brigance, 1987)

Criterion-referenced,
individually administered functional skills
inventory

Brigance Diagnostic
Life Skills Inventory
(Brigance, 1994)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

life skills inventory

Career Interest Inventory (CII) (1990)

Career Inventories
for the Learning
Disabled (CILD)
(Weller & Buchanan,
1983)

6 years
adulthood

*Tests marked with asterisks are featured in tables in this chapter.

Table 134

Name of Test

(continued)

Type of Test

Suitable for
Individuals
Who Are

Brief Description
of Test

Purpose of
Administering Test

Employability Assessment Instrument

(East Central Ohio
Special Education
Regional Resource
Center, 1981)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

rating scale

In high school
programs for
students who
are educable
mentally
retarded

Measures 21 job
readiness skills using
a rating system in
which the ratings on
the profile form
match a students
individual profile
with profiles of
employability skills
needed for success
in 55 jobs

For special educators to

use with students who
display little potential
for vocational success

Life Centered Career

Education (LCCE)
Knowledge and Performance Batteries
(Brolin, 1992a)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered,

curriculum-based assessment instruments

High school,
especially with
students in
educable
mentally
handicapped
and learning
disabilities
programs

The Knowledge
Battery contains
200 multiple choice
questions that evaluate daily living,
personal-social, and
occupational skills.
The 105 items on the
Performance Battery
sample a variety of
skills required for
success in daily living,
personal-social adjustment, and occupational endeavors.

To measure the career

education knowledge
and skills of students
with disabilities

Philadelphia Jewish
Employment and
Vocational Service
Work Sample System
(JEVS) (Jewish Employment and Vocational Service, n.d.)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

work samples

High school
adult

Consists of 28 work
samples in 10 job
groups including
work samples such
as nut, bolt, and
washer assembly;
tile sorting; hardware
assembly; proofreading; adding machine
use; pipe assembly;
blouse making; and
drafting

To assess job interests

and occupational aptitudes using a variety of
work samples

Table 134

(continued)
Suitable for
Individuals
Who Are

Brief Description
of Test

Purpose of
Administering Test

Name of Test

Type of Test

Occupational
Aptitude Survey and
Interest Schedule,
Second Edition
(OASIS-2) (Parker,
1991)

Criterion referenced, individually or group administered to up to 10

students

Grades 812

Contains an aptitude
survey measuring
general ability, verbal
aptitude, numerical
aptitude, spatial aptitude, perceptual
aptitude, and manual
dexterity, and an interest schedule measuring 12 interest
areas related to occupations including
artistic, scientific,
nature, protective,
mechanical, industrial, business detail,
selling, accommodating, humanitarian,
leading-influencing,
and physical
performing

To assess occupational
aptitudes and vocational
interests

Prevocational Assessment and Curriculum

Guide (Mithaug et al.,
1978)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

checklist

Severely disabled and

placed in
school-based
vocational
training settings, sheltered
workshops,
and work
activity centers

Measures attendance
or endurance, independence, production, learning, behavhavior, communication skills, social skills,
and self-help skills.
Teachers and supervisors in vocational
settings can use the
checklist to determine
prevocational skill
performance levels
and identify relative
strengths and
weaknesses.

To assess skills that are

important for functioning independently in
vocational settings

*Reading Free
Vocational Interest
InventoryRevised
(Becker, 1981, 1988)

Norm-referenced,
group-administered
screening test of vocational interest

1322 years
and sheltered
workshop
employees
ages 1759
years

A picture test of vocational interests

administered by
having students
choose a preferred
activity from 55 sets
of 3 pictures

To assist in vocational
planning and placement and as a guide
for developing instructional objectives and
activities

Table 134

Name of Test

(continued)

Type of Test

Suitable for
Individuals
Who Are

Brief Description
of Test

Purpose of
Administering Test

Singer Career System

(Singer Educational
Division, n.d.)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

work samples

High school
adult

Consists of more
than 30 work
samples that use
actual tools and
materials from real
jobs. A slide or tape
machine, rather than
an evaluator, presents
the instructions for
completing each
work sample.

To evaluate job interests and occupational

aptitudes by assessing
performance on a variety of work samples

Social and Prevocational Information

Battery-Revised
(SPIB-R) (Halpern &
Irvin, 1986)

Norm-referenced, individually administered

inventory

High school
students who
have mild
mental
retardation

Includes nine subTo assess the skills nectests for measuring

essary for success in
job search skills,
postschool activities
home management,
job-related skills,
physical health care,
banking, hygiene
and grooming, budgeting, functional
signs, and purchasing

Talent Assessment
Program (TAP)
(Nighswonger, n.d.)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

work samples

High school
adult

Contains 10 different
tests, including fine
dexterity without
tools, gross dexterity
without tools, fine
dexterity with tools,
gross dexterity with
tools, flowchart visualization, and retention of structural
and mechanical
detail

To evaluate perception,
dexterity, tactile discrimination, and retention of details using a
variety of work samples

Test Orientation and

Work Evaluation in
Rehabilitation
(TOWER) (International Center for the
Disabled, n.d.)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

work samples

High school
adult

Measures 14 job
skills: clerical, mahine shop, drafting,
mail clerk, drawing,
optical mechanics,
electronics assembly,
pantograph engraving, jewelry manufacturing, sewing
machine operation,
leather goods, welding, lettering, and
workshop assembly

To provide students
with a wide range of
vocational exploration
activities

Table 134

Name of Test

(continued)

Type of Test

Suitable for
Individuals
Who Are

Brief Description
of Test

Purpose of
Administering Test

Transition Planning
Inventory (TPI)
(Clark & Patton,
1997)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

assessment and transition planning curriculum guide

Teenagers with
disabilities

Includes an administration and resource

guide and packages
of 25 profile and
assessment recommendation forms,
school forms, home
forms, and student
forms. The administration and resource
guide includes a
planning notes form,
an individualized
planning document,
and more than 600
transition goals.

To identify and plan for

the transition needs of
students with disabilities

Valpar Component
Work Sample System
(Brandon et al., n.d.)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

work samples

14 years
adulthood

Contains 24 work
samples

To evaluate job interests

and occupational aptitudes using worklike
tasks administered under specific instructions

Vocational Information and Evaluation

Work Samples
(VIEWS) (Mandelbaum et al., n.d.)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

work samples

High school
students and
adults with
mild to severe mental
retardation

Contains 16 work
samples that measure elemental work,
clerical work, machine work, and
crafts

To assess occupational
interests and aptitudes
using standardized
work samples

Vocational Integration Index (VII)

(Parent et al., 1992)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

rating scale

High school
students and
adults with
severe
disabilities

Consists of two
scales: the Job Scale
evaluates a job site
to determine available opportunities
for vocational integration; the
Consumer Scale
assesses the degree
to which a worker
with a disability takes
advantage of integration opportunities
and identifies ways
to enhance worker
job satisfaction

To identify and choose

integrated employment
opportunities that are
compatible with the
personal and social
preferences of workers
with disabilities

Table 134

(continued)

Name of Test

Type of Test

*Wide Range Interest

Opinion Test (WRIOT)
(Jastak & Jastak,
1979)

Norm-referenced,
group- or individually
administered screening
test of vocational
interest

Work Personality
Profile (WPP) (Bolton
& Roessler, 1986);
Work Personality
Profile-Self-Report
(WPP-SR) (Bolton &
Roessler, 1992)

Criterion-referenced, individually administered

behavior rating scales

Suitable for
Individuals
Who Are

Brief Description
of Test

Purpose of
Administering Test

5 yearsadult

Picture test that

measures vocational
interests using a
series of line drawings that show people in various workrelated situations

To measure both work

interests (such as mechanics, social services,
and sales) and work attitudes (including risk
and ambition) for use
in vocational planning,
including counseling,
employee selection,
and coordinating instruction with student
interests

High school
adult

Measures the following capabilities: acceptance of the work

role, ability to profit
from instruction or
correction, work persistence, work tolerance, amount of
supervision required,
teamwork, ability to
socialize with coworkers, and social
communication skills

For use in work evaluation centers and employment settings to

assess the basic capabilities necessary for
successful employment