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When appropriate and possible, a vocational expert uses vocational tests to measure an individual’s interests, abilities, and aptitudes. Standardized tests designed to measure personality, academic ability, achievement levels, intelligence level, vocational aptitude, and vocational interests are widely used for diagnostic purposes in the case of injured persons, and are valuable in assessing an injured worker’s employment potential. These tests show workers’ current capabilities, as well as their potential to increase earning capacity by completing additional training or education to learn new job skills and qualify for more jobs within their medical limitations.
Tests should be administered by a “Qualified User.” This is the individual who assumes responsibility for all aspects of appropriate test use, including administration, scoring, interpretation, and application of results. Some tests may be administered or scored by individuals with less training, as long as they are under the supervision of a Qualified User. A Qualified User must have one of the following:[1]
- A master’s degree in psychology, education, speech–language pathology, occupational therapy, social work, counseling, or a field closely related to the intended use of the assessment, and formal training in the ethical administration, scoring, and interpretation of clinical assessments.
- Certification by or full active membership in a professional organization (such as ASHA, AOTA, AERA, ACA, AMA, CEC, AEA, AAA, EAA, NAEYC, NBCC) that requires training and experience in the relevant area of assessment.
- A degree or license to practice in the healthcare or allied healthcare field.
- Formal, supervised mental health, speech/language, occupational therapy, social work, counseling, and/or educational training specific to assessing children, or in infant and child development, and formal training in the ethical administration, scoring, and interpretation of clinical assessments.
- Work for an accredited institution.
Most vocational testing is administered by either a vocational evaluator, rehabilitation counselor, or case manager.
A vocational evaluator is trained to conduct vocational assessments and assist individuals in identifying suitable jobs and career paths. The evaluator may have a degree in vocational evaluation or counseling. Some vocational evaluators receive certification from organizations such as the Commission on Certification of Work Adjustment and Vocational Evaluation Specialists. In some cases, a vocational evaluator will also have studied psychology or other related fields.[2]
A rehabilitation counselor is trained to help people with disabilities achieve their personal, social, psychological, and vocational goals. Rehabilitation counselors evaluate school and medical reports and confer with physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and employers to determine an individual’s capabilities and skills. From here, they develop a rehabilitation or treatment plan designed to assist the individual in achieving goals, which may include training to develop job skills or activities to assist with living independently. Rehabilitation counselors typically must have a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling. Some positions require a license or Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) certification.[3]
A case manager collaborates with a rehabilitation team to provide vocational rehabilitation services. Case managers may have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a Health or Human Services field, or may be certified as a CRC or a Certified Case Manager (CCM). On a rehabilitation team, a case manager may conduct vocational testing as a part of the comprehensive vocational assessment.[4]
Ethical standards for rehabilitation counselors stress the importance of discussing with individuals, prior to testing, how their tests will be used in their vocational evaluations. In forensic settings it is important to establish that the evaluator has no client and will provide an unbiased evaluation that does not establish a client–consoler relationship.[5]
Counselors should administer tests in the person’s primary spoken and written language. Versions of many tests are available in English, Spanish, and other languages. When the person and the vocational consultant do not have a common language, the vocational consultant should employ a professional translator to obtain valid results. The consultant should also establish that the person is sufficiently literate to use self-administered tests.
When social distancing is necessary (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), administering testing in person may not be safe or feasible. Tests may be administered using teleconferencing software such as Zoom or Skype. The injured person must have access to a computer and internet connection. The consultant will mail any required testing materials (such as a response booklet) in a sealed envelope to the injured person’s attorney’s office. These materials must be opened in front of the evaluator in the attorney’s office over Zoom/Skype. Once testing is complete, the subject must seal the testing materials in an envelope, sign the back, and return the envelope via certified mail to the evaluator. The evaluator should observe while the person takes any self-administered tests to assure valid results.
The tests are then scored and the score summary for each test is included in the vocational report. The results help the evaluator identify vocational assists and limitations. RPC will produce raw data when required to do so.
Ideally a battery of forensic vocational tests should include measures of personality, academic ability, achievement levels, intelligence level, vocational aptitude, and vocational interests. Often a neuropsychological evaluation is conducted as part of the rehabilitation assessment following an accident or injury. Neuropsychological tests evaluate functioning in a number of areas, including intelligence, executive functions (such as planning, abstraction, conceptualization), attention, memory, language, perception, sensorimotor functions, motivation, mood state and emotion, quality of life, and personality styles. Overlapping information such as intelligence and educational achievement can be obtained from neuropsychological testing. Aptitude and vocational interests can only be obtained from vocational tests, however.
Vocational Tests
Here is a brief description of some of the tests commonly used by vocational consultants.
CareerScope
CareerScope is a self-administered, computerized, timed assessment that takes most people 30–45 minutes to complete. CareerScope has components to measure and identify a person’s aptitudes and interests.[6]
Aptitude Assessment determines an individual’s likelihood to succeed in a given activity. Aptitude tests assume that individuals have inherent strengths and weaknesses, and a natural inclination toward success or failure in specific areas, based on their innate characteristics. The aptitudes measured are: General Learning Ability, Verbal Aptitude, Numerical Aptitude, Spatial Aptitude, Form Perception, and Clerical Perception.
Interest Inventory asks individuals to rate their enjoyment and interest in a wide variety of activities. The results identify careers that people with similar preferences enjoy, and pinpoint individual workers’ most significant interest-area preferences. A vocational evaluator can then target key areas of interest, by measuring and identifying a worker’s attraction to careers that correspond to Interest Areas developed by the U.S. Department of Labor. These areas are: Artistic, Plants/Animals, Mechanical, Business Detail, Accommodating, Lead/Influence, Scientific, Protective, Industrial, Selling, Humanitarian, and Physical Performing.
CareerScope is also available as CareerScope English with Spanish text, which presents Interest Inventory, Numerical Reasoning, and Word Meanings in Spanish.[7]
RPC includes a copy of the CareerScope Summary as a report attachment.
The Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT5)
The WRAT5 measures a person’s basic academic skills in reading, spelling, math computation, and sentence comprehension. It helps consultants screen for achievement weaknesses in reading, mathematics, and spelling, and obtain an estimate of achievement in each of these content areas. This paper-and-pencil test, proctored by a qualified administrator, takes 20–30 minutes.[8] This test can be proctored remotely by displaying required testing material on a shared screen on teleconferencing software. This test is only available in English.
Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT2)
The KBIT2 is a brief, individually administered measure of verbal and nonverbal intelligence. This paper-and-pencil test, proctored by a qualified administrator, takes 15–30 minutes. This test can be proctored remotely by displaying required testing material on a shared screen on teleconferencing software. It is only available in English.
Conclusion
RPC’s vocational evaluators decide which vocational tests are appropriate for each case. Tests such as the WRAT5 and KBIT2 are primarily needed if additional training is being considered, if an individual’s level of academic achievement is unknown, or if cognitive functioning has changed due to injury, such as a traumatic brain injury. Vocational testing assists in identifying workers’ current capabilities following an accident or injury, as well as their potential to increase their earning capacity by completing additional training or education to learn new job skills and qualify for more jobs within their medical limitations. It also helps the evaluator to identify vocational assists and limitations to help determine employment potential.
[1] Pearson Testing. Qualified User Policy. https://www.pearsonassessments.com/professional-assessments/ordering/how-to-order/qualifications/qualifications-policy.html
[2] https://www.workplacetesting.com/definition/2593/vocational-evaluator
[3] https://explorehealthcareers.org/career/mental-health/rehabilitation-counselor/
[4] Commission for Case Manager Certification. https://ccmcertification.org/
[5] Roger O. Weed and Timothy F. Field, “Appendix I: International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals Code of Ethics, Standards of Practice, and Competencies,” in Rehabilitation Consultant’s Handbook, 4th ed. (Athens, GA: Elliott and Fitzpatrick, 2012). Pages 369-378.
[6] CareerScope Webpage. https://vri.org/
[7] https://abledata.acl.gov/product/careerscope
[8] Gary S. Wilkinson and Gary J. Robertson, Wide Range Achievement Test, Fourth Edition Manual (Bloomington, MN: Pearson, 2017), pp. 1-2.
[9] Alan S. Kaufman and Nadeen L. Kaufman, Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, Second Edition Manual (Bloomington, MN: Pearson, 2004), p. 1.