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Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development 43(1) 66 –71 © The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav http://mec.sagepub.com

Book Review

Edwin A. Whitfield, Rich W. Feller, and Chris Wood, Editors A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment Instruments, Fifth Edition, Broken Arrow, OK: National Career Development Association (NCDA), 2009. 580 pp. $55.00 (NCDA member price), $70.00 (nonmember price). ISBN 1885333242

Reviewed by: Emily M. Miller and Bradley T. Erford, Loyola University Maryland, USA DOI: 10.1177/0748175610362370

The first edition of A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment Instruments was published in 1982. Now in its fifth edition, it remains a comprehensive handbook designed to assist counselors in the process of selecting appro- priate career assessments for use with clients. With the plethora of assessments on the mar- ket, many of which aim to measure the same construct, it can be a complicated and time- consuming process to find one that is both appropriate for the counselor’s target popula- tion and psychometrically sound. With chap- ters on a variety of career assessment-related topics, such as current trends in assessment, selecting an assessment instrument, essential assessment competencies, as well as standard- ized reviews of 71 career assessment instru- ments, the purpose of this guide is to simplify what can often be an arduous task.

A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment Instruments is divided into 13 chapters, with 7 chapters devoted to career assessment-related topics of import to counselors and the remaining 6 chapters composed of reviews of a wide range of assessment instruments. Four appendices round out this guide, providing readers with further helpful guidance on where to find add itional information to aid in their decision- making process, guidelines for ethical practice, and a matrix for comparing the assessments reviewed in this book by key characteristics. Cha nges in the fifth edition include the addition

of new instruments, the removal of outdated ins truments, and new or updated chapter material.

In Chapter 1, the editors, Edwin Whitfield, Rich Feller, and Chris Wood, introduce readers to A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment Instruments, providing them with a brief history and background information about the guide, a description of the content and format of the guide, and helpful suggestions for its use. In particular, the editors describe the process of how they selected instruments to review in this edition. In general, they chose to feature ins- truments that are well known and widely used, instruments that have recently been revised, brand new instruments, and instruments that may be useful for clients with disabilities. A section on how to use the guide is particularly useful, with the editors outling their philosophy of assessment in career counseling. The editors stress that assessment should be only one com- ponent of the counseling process and that, when used inappropriately, may actually hinder the career counseling process.

Chapter 1 ends with the editors issuing this important warning to readers: “This guide can neither teach a measurement course nor make a selection decision for a busy practitioner” (p. 11). In essence, readers are urged to engage in additional research and exploration before selecting an assessment instrument. Although this guide provides readers with a thorough

Book Review 67

starting point, the editors suggest that it should not be the only resource used in the decision- making process. Chapter 1 is an informative introduction to this resource, one that provides readers with information about both the strengths and limitations of the guide. Overall, it offers readers an informed consent of sorts, highlighting the potential benefits of its use and cautioning counselors against using it in a way for which it was not intended.

Chapter 2, written by Edwin Herr, includes updated information about current trends and issues in career assessment, as well as future implications based on these trends. Herr notes the importance of staying abreast of current trends because career assessments and inter- ventions must reflect the changing world. The following trends are discussed in-depth in this chapter: the changing nature of work, the development or adaptation of career assess- ments cross-nationally, the wedding of techno- logy and career assessments, and accountability, empirically supported treatment, and evidence- based practice.

Herr does an excellent job of introducing readers to many hot-button issues related to career assessment in this chapter, issues that counselors must remain cognizant of to ensure their techniques and interventions remain cutting edge and relevant. Nonetheless, there were a few areas that may have benefited from further elaboration. For example, in his discussion of the changing nature of work, Herr contends that current assessment instruments need to be examined to ascertain the extent to which they currently measure new, important skills that are increasingly becoming vital in the global economy (e.g., soft skills, worker flexibility, lifelong learning). Herr suggests that new assessments may need to be created to evaluate these constructs if current assessments are lacking. Absent was information on how test developers are addressing this emerging need or how professional counselors can use informal pro- cedures in the interim to fill the gap. As is so often the case in chapters identifying future trends and issues, we were left with a great understanding of the issues facing the pro- fession but desiring more information and insights on “how to.” What do counselors do

now? How do they adapt? How can they help their clients adapt? Herr accomplished the chapter objective with his characteristic penchant for accuracy and insight, tackling a topic in a single chapter that merits an entire book on its own. Other scholars will certainly continue looking toward the future and thinking about how to adjust practice to meet the changing needs of both employers and workers.

In Chapter 3, Valerie Schwiebert discusses the critical process of selecting a career assessment instrument. Schwiebert outlines the essential pieces of information that counselors must gather before deciding whether to use an instrument. This chapter includes sections on: who should be involved in instrument selection, sources of information about specific instru- ments, technical information regarding instru- ments, types of scores and interpretive materials, appropriateness of instruments for various groups, practical issues in instrument selection, and a test evaluation outline.

Schwiebert encourages counselors to include clients in the assessment selection process to increase client comfort with and ownership of the assessment process. Other practical suggestions are offered to practitioners, such as ordering examination kits from publishers to review, ensuring that assessments align with the counselor’s intended purpose, locating information about the assessment’s use with diverse clients, and taking the assessment before administering it to others to become familiar with its structure and scoring. This chapter also contains a brief discussion of the technical characteristics that should be evaluated when selecting an assessment instrument, including norms, reliability, and validity, providing readers with tips on what they should be examining in terms of these characteristics.

Albeit brief, the section on reliability provides an informative overview of which types of reliability are more or less relevant to evaluate depending on the intended use and purpose of the assessment. It would have been helpful if the section on validity had followed a similar format, giving readers examples of the types of validity that would be most important to examine based on various common assessment purposes and goals. This chapter concludes

68 Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development 43(1)

with a wonderfully concise and valuable test evaluation outline that counselors can refer to when selecting an instrument. The outline lists 20 criteria that should be evaluated for each instrument being considered for use.

In Chapter 4, Norman Gysbers and Richard Lapan focus on how assessments can be used to advocate for programs and policies, as well how they can be used to assist clients in self- advocacy. Advocacy has become a salient role for all counselors, regardless of specialization, so it is fitting that an entire chapter is devoted to the topic and how assessment can be used to advocate more effectively for client needs. This chapter is composed of three major sections: personal advocacy, program advocacy, and policy advocacy.

In the section on personal advocacy, the authors assert that using assessment appro- priately with individual clients can lead to greater self-knowledge that will allow them to advocate on their own behalf. With a great awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, interest, values, and skills, clients will be better positioned to make educated decisions about their careers and their futures. Gysbers and Lapan note that assessments can also be used to advocate for career counseling programs by providing practitioners with a vehicle for demonstrating accountability to gain support and funding. The authors do a great job of pointing out how program advocacy can still be somewhat disconcerting for many profes- sionals, especially for those who have never before engaged in any advocacy efforts. They provide an example of how the Missouri School Counselor Association is working to increase school counselors’ comfort with this important role. While noteworthy, it would have been even more valuable if the authors had included a list or short paragraph of suggestions for how all counselors can increase their con- fidence in conducting program advocacy, par- ticularly for counselors who do not have the benefit of an initiative like the one in Missouri.

Finally, in regard to policy advocacy, Gysbers and Lapan suggest that assessment can be used in a much larger context by using data from program advocacy to make changes at a local, state, or national level. This section includes

a helpful format for counselors interested in writing a policy brief to legislators. An example of an actual policy brief, either included in the chapter or attached as an appendix, would have added further value to this section to help rea- ders get a sense of the tone of voice and inf- ormation needed to send a clear and persuasive message to policy makers.

Ultimately, this chapter provides an excellent introduction to the use of assessment in adv ocacy at both the microlevel and macrolevel. However, the absence of any mention of the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) Advocacy Competencies was surprising, as the document has existed for some time now and mirrors the levels of advocacy promoted in this chapter. An infusion of the ACA Adv ocacy Competencies into this chapter, with the authors addressing how assessment could be used in each domain presented in the doc ument, would be a worthy addition to this already outstanding chapter.

Chapter 5, written by James Sampson Jr., Darrin Carr, Jill Lumsden, Cassandra Smisson, and Casey Dozier, provides a thorough intro- duction to computer-assisted career asse ssment, including its purpose, benefits, and limitations. The authors note that although the Internet has allowed more people to access computer- assisted career assessment, the overall quality of these assessments has declined bec ause not all developers are following pro fessional stan- dards and providing users with the necessary information about their asse ssment to make wise decisions. They suggest that those creating computer-assisted career assessments must provide information on the assessment’s psy- chometric properties in lang uage that con- sumers can understand, especially considering that many people may take these assessments independently, without the guidance or assi stance of a professional counselor.

Sections on the benefits and limitations of computer-assisted career assessment provide readers with vital information to help clients make judgments about whether the instrument’s potential advantages outweigh the flaws. Whereas benefits may include increased access, quicker administration and scoring, and dec reased number of errors, limitations may

Book Review 69

include dubious quality, technical errors, ethical concerns, and flaws in structure and interpretive reports. Regarding interpretive reports, the authors remind counselors that examining the validity of interpretive reports is just as crucial as examining the validity of the test score itself. The authors remind that “it is possible to have an invalid interpretation of a valid test” (p. 52).

The final section of the chapter, which dis- cusses future innovations in computer-assisted career assessment, is particularly progressive and provides great insight into the needs of users. The authors contend that increasing the multimedia capabilities of computer-assisted career assessment (e.g., audio interpretations, video interpretations, graphics, voice recognition software) can foster increased client under- standing and motivation, as well as meet the needs of a variety of learning styles and people with disabilities. Other future innovations include increased use of cybercounseling to assist individuals with disabilities or those who live in areas without access to career services. Additionally, the authors discuss the importance of the creation of “consumer reports” reviews for computer-assisted career assessments that would pop up in search engines when users are looking for online career assessments. Ultimately, this chapter is an excellent guide to computer-assisted career assessment and one that is necessary reading material for any practitioner who uses or is considering using computer-assisted career assessment.

In Chapter 6, “Assessment and Counseling Competencies and Responsibilities: A Che cklist for Counselors,” Thomas Krieshok and Michael Black present a seven-page checklist that coun- selors can use to appraise their basic assessment- related competencies. The che cklist is divided into three sections: counseling skills, assessment skills, and responsibilities/com petencies. The assessment skills section has six subsections: statistics used in testing and test manuals, types of instruments, score reporting procedures, standardization and norms, reliability, and validity. The responsibilities/competencies section of the checklist has three subsections: preparing for test use, administration and scoring, and interpretation.

This checklist is written in straightforward language and the directions are clear and easy to follow. This chapter provides readers with a simple way to take an inventory of their str engths and weaknesses in relation to essential assessment and counseling skills. Readers who would like to improve their abilities are referred to Appendix A, which is an annotated bibliography of useful resources on a variety of assessment-related topics. It would have been excellent, however, if the authors had listed at least one or two suggested resources for counselors looking to improve their skills in each section, so that readers would have an effortless means of selecting a text that aligns with their needs.

Chapter 7, written by Mary Podmostko, Joe Timmons, and Christine Bremer, focuses on assessing youth and adults with challenges or disabilities. The authors inform readers that these clients, referred to as “focus clients,” are frequently not provided with the level of autonomy that is given to other clients. They proceed to discuss how focus clients’ interests and skills are often not taken into account in the career decision-making process, leading to careers that are incongruent with their per- sonalities. Through assessment, the authors believe the situation can be remedied.

The remainder of this chapter addresses a variety of topics, such as person-centered planning (i.e., approaching clients from a strengths- based perspective, rather than a deficits-based perspective), assessment activities, risk factors, situational work assessments and independent living skills assessments, providing clients with accommodations, and addressing systemic challenges. Counselors are encouraged to ensure that the psychometric properties of assessments will not be altered by the use of accommodations before administering instru- ments to clients. If counselors learn that the reliability or validity will be affected, it is suggested that counselors seek out other ways to assess focus clients, or at least take these limitations into account when interpreting test results affected by accommodations. In addition, the authors discuss the use of situational work assessments as a useful way to help focus clients determine whether they might like a

70 Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development 43(1)

certain career as well as whether focus cli ents have the skills necessary to be successful in that career. Overall, this chapter is a qua lity starting point to help counselors address the needs of focus clients through career assessment.

The remaining six chapters in A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment Instruments com- prise the majority of the guide. Each chapter includes reviews of assessment instruments related to a particular category. Chapter 8 reviews 19 aptitude/achievement and compre- hensive or combined measures. Chapter 9 reviews 12 interest and values instruments. Chapter 10 reviews 10 career development/ career maturity instruments. Chapter 11 reviews 6 personality instruments. Chapter 12 reviews 8 instruments designed for use with special populations. Finally, Chapter 13 provides a table with brief reviews of 189 additional career assessment instruments that were not featured in the previous chapters. The table in Chapter 13 gives readers the following information: name of test, publisher, date, population, ref- erences, and a brief description of the ins- trument. This table ensures that all important assessment instruments are included in the guide and is an excellent reference for counselors.

The 55 full-length reviews, which cover a total of 71 instruments, presented in Chapters 8 through 12 follow a standard format. Before each review, general information is listed about the assessment instruments, such as publisher, target population, purpose of the instrument, titles of subtests, forms and levels available, norm groups on which scores are based, how scores are reported, and cost of materials. Following that information is the actual review of the instrument, which includes a description of the instrument, its use in counseling, technical considerations, and an overall critique. When relevant, an additional section about computer- based versions of the instrument is included in the review.

These chapters review a wonderfully diverse range of instruments. Although different people write each review, they all use easy-to-understand language and provide readers with the critical information they

need to begin the decision-making process. These chapters are executed and organized beautifully and affirm why this text is now in its fifth edition. It truly is a must- have resource for counselors involved in career assessment. The only element that seemed lacking from these chapters was an introduction to each section. Each chapter dives immediately into the reviews without commencing with an overview of the types of instruments being reviewed in the section and specific consider ations unique to that type of assessment.

This guide concludes with four indispensable appendices. Appendix A is an annotated bib- liography of helpful resources for counselors looking for further assessment-related infor- mation. This appendix organizes resources by the following categories: standards for pub- lishers and users of tests, psychometric texts and monographs, career development texts, materials for special populations, test bib- liographies and reviews, periodicals that publish test research and reviews, and additional career assessment Web sites. For the counselor who needs more specific or in-depth guidance or information before selecting an instrument or using an assessment, this bibliography is bound to have one or two resources that will address their needs. Appendix B lists the addresses, phone numbers, and Web sites of test pub lishers. Tracking down this information can often take some time, particularly for lesser known instruments, so this appendix is a time-saving resource for counselors who need to contact the publisher directly with questions or to order examination kits.

Appendix C is a compilation of test sta n- dards and codes. In this appendix, counselors can refer to the Responsibilities of Users of Standardized Tests, the Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education, the Rights and Res ponsibilities of Test Takers: Guidelines and Expectations, and Standards for Multicultural Assessment. Providing these documents in an appendix makes it easy for consumers to acc ess and refer to them as needed. Finally, App endix D is quite innovative. It is a user’s matrix that provides counselors with an alphabetical

Book Review 71

listing of career assessment instruments by category and type of use. This matrix allows users to quickly compare various instru ments by characteristics assessed, level of use, and appropriateness for use with special populations.

In summary, A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment Instruments is a valuable resource for counselors involved in career ass essment. This guide goes beyond just compiling instrument reviews, which it does

brilliantly, to also addressing contemporary issues and trends related to assessment. The addition of the four appendices makes the assessment process clearer and more time efficient. This guide is concise and written in simple language, making it easy for counselors to find what they need without having to wade through sup erfluous information. Although some chapters could benefit from expansion, ultimately this resource is an absolute necessity

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Copyright of Measurement & Evaluation in Counseling & Development is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.