1. Purpose. To announce the release and availability of the O*NET® Ability Profiler™, a paper-and-pencil instrument to assess individuals' relative strengths in nine ability areas for purposes of career exploration, career planning, and career counseling.

2. Background. The U.S. Department of Labor has developed the O*NET® Career Exploration Tools, a suite of assessment instruments designed for career counseling, career planning, and career exploration purposes. These tools are intended to assist a wide variety of individuals in identifying and learning more about occupations that they might find satisfying. Use of a variety of career exploration tools supports the whole-person approach to assessment, providing a firmer basis for individuals to make important career decisions. The O*NET Career Exploration Tools were designed so that individuals could take one or more of these assessments, based on their particular needs. The assessment tools previously released include:

• The O*NET® Interest Profiler™ (paper-and-pencil and computerized versions) helps people discover the type of work activities and tasks that they would enjoy on the job. They then can identify the occupations that most closely match their primary interests.
  
  
• The O*NET® Work Importance Locator™ and O*NET® Work Importance Profiler™ (paper-and-pencil and computerized versions, respectively) help clarify what people find most important in jobs. They then can identify O*NET occupations that they are likely to find satisfying, based on the similarity between what is important to them in a job and the characteristics of the occupations.

3. O*NET Ability Profiler. With the release of the O*NET Ability Profiler, the U.S. Department of Labor has completed the final component of the O*NET Career Exploration Tools. The O*NET Ability Profiler is a paper-and-pencil instrument with optional apparatus component (available separately, see section 6). This career counseling and career exploration tool measures nine job-relevant abilities: 1) Verbal Ability, 2) Arithmetic Reasoning, 3) Computation, 4) Spatial Ability, 5) Form Perception, 6) Clerical Perception, 7) Motor Coordination, 8) Manual Dexterity, and 9) Finger Dexterity.

The O*NET Ability Profiler is not designed for use as a self-assessment tool; instead it must be administered by staff who provide instructions to participants. The O*NET Ability Profiler package includes administration materials. Information on web-based training to administer the instrument is included in section 6 of this Notice.

Upon completing the O*NET Ability Profiler, participants receive a computer-generated score report for use in exploring careers. By using their results with O*NET data and related occupational information, individuals can explore the world of work by comparing their abilities to the abilities necessary to perform different occupations. Knowing their relative strengths can help them decide what kinds of jobs and careers they want to explore and identify areas where they may want to pursue additional education or training.

Components of the O*NET Ability Profiler.The complete assessment instrument consists of four packets:

• Instrument Packet - which includes: O*NET Ability Profiler Form; Using Your Results; Part 7 Answer Sheet; Answer Sheet;
  
• Administration Packet - which includes: O*NET Ability Profiler Administration Manual; User's Guide; Record of Apparatus Scores; Three-Dimensional Space Cutouts;
  
• Scoring Packet - which includes: Pre-marked Response Sheets for Scoring Calibration; CD containing the O*NET Ability Profiler Scoring Program (APSP) software and a PDF version of the APSP User's Guide; and
  
• Training Packet - which includes: O*NET Ability Profiler Administrator Training Manual; Overhead Masters; Participant's Guide.

Administration, Scoring and Training.


• To administer the O*NET Ability Profiler requires the materials in both the O*NET Ability Profiler Instrument Packet and the O*NET Ability Profiler Administration Packet.
  
• To score the O*NET Ability Profiler requires the materials in the O*NET Ability Profiler Scoring Packet. To conduct training on how to administer the O*NET Ability Profiler requires the materials in the O*NET Ability Profiler Training Packet.
  
• Web-based training is available, as is an O*NET Ability Profiler Administrator's OnLine Self-Assessment Quiz.
  
  
  
  • After studying the O*NET Ability Profiler Training Packet, potential O*NET Ability Profiler Administrators can visit O*NET Academy at http://www.onetacademy.com and take the self-assessment quiz to gauge their understanding of the procedures, requirements, and skills needed to administer the O*NET Ability Profiler with clients. The self-assessment contains 50 questions in three sections. It is not tracked or graded and is intended for personal assessment of learning only.
    
  • Live Webinars in support of the O*NET Ability Profiler will be available via O*NET Academy. Webinars are 60 minute, online training sessions conducted in a virtual classroom setting. Related Webinar topics scheduled are: "Preview of the Features and Benefits of the O*NET Ability Profiler" and "Using the O*NET Ability Profiler Administrator's Guide."

4. Using the O*NET Career Exploration Tools in Workforce Investme. Professionals in One-Stop Career Centers, employment agencies, educational institutions and other entities that offer career counseling services can use the O*NET Career Exploration Tools to explore career possibilities with dislocated workers,job seekers, students, and others new to the job market. The O*NET Career Exploration Tools can help workers facing career transitions to expand their range of potential employment options. With the results of any of these tools, individuals may link to information on more than 950 occupations described in the O*NET database via O*NET OnLine (http://online.onetcenter.org). O*NET OnLine also links to America's Career InfoNet (www.acinet.org), thereby allowing individuals to relate their assessment results to employment demand and wage information for occupations in a state or area labor market. These tools also can be used with a variety of public and private career and labor market information systems that have integrated O*NET information.

The O*NET database provides a comprehensive source of occupational descriptors for more than 950 occupations, covering the spectrum of the U.S. economy. There are ten broad categories of occupational descriptors: (1) skills, (2) abilities, (3) knowledge, (4) tasks, (5) work activities, (6) work context, (7) education and experience levels required, (8) job interests, (9) work values, and (10) work needs. Each occupation is rated on each of the over 200 descriptors regarding their importance for the occupation and the level required for that occupation. O*NET occupational titles are based on the most current version (2000) of the Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC). The SOC is used by federal agencies to collect and report occupational statistics; hence there is a built-in linkage to other occupational data.

5. Locating and Selecting Appropriate Assessment Instruments. The O*NET Ability Profiler is limited to use for career exploration, career counseling and career guidance purposes. Therefore, organizations that need an assessment tool(s) for other purposes should explore the wide range of instruments available from professional test/assessment developers and publishers. A number of sources are available to help your organization locate suitable assessments and explore the reliability and validity of various assessments for their intended use. Some of the available sources include:


• ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation, Test Locator at: http://ericae.net/testcol.htm
  
• Mental Measurements Yearbook (published by Buros Institute of Mental Measurements)
  
• Tests in Print (published by Buros Institute)
  
• Test Critiques (by Daniel J. Keyser and Richard C. Sweetland).
  
• Testing and Assessment: An Employer's Guide to Good Practices (published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration). While this guide is geared to employers, it contains information that is applicable to workforce investment programs concerned with evaluating tests and assessments.

Other listings and reviews of assessment instruments are available by using Internet search engines, visiting a library or contacting professional associations or organizations in psychology, human resources, counseling, and testing and assessment.

In addition, the National Center for O*NET Development is making the technical research documents for the O*NET Ability Profiler available to public and private developers. By making this information available, developers may modify and/or develop their own variants of the tool as specified in the O*NET Developer's Agreement. This Agreement specifies that users who modify the content or purpose of the tool must perform their own validation studies for changes in content or use.

6. Distribution/Availability. An initial supply of O*NET Ability Profiler materials will be distributed to sites designated by each state during late March or early April under separate cover. The O*NET Ability Profiler will also be available for purchase from the Government Printing Office (GPO), telephone: 202/512?1800 (DC area) or 1?866/512-1800 (toll free); or fax: 202/512-2250; or visit online GPO bookstore at: http://bookstore.gpo.gov

To download samples of various components of the O*NET Ability Profiler and other O*NET Career Exploration Tools for review, visit the "Products" web page of the National O*NET Consortium, and select the heading, "O*NET Career Exploration Tools," http://www.onetcenter.org/tools.html

The optional "Manual Dexterity Pegboards" and "Finger Dexterity Boards" needed to administer Parts 8 through 11 of the O*NET Ability Profiler instrument may be available at a state workforce agency, at One Stop Career Centers or their affiliated partner sites/public Employment Service offices. Some of these agencies may have extra boards in their inventory if their counseling and assessment staff administered the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB). These materials may also be available from other public and private sources. Please visit the "Products" web page of the National O*NET Consortium, and select the heading, "O*NET Career Exploration Tools," http://www.onetcenter.org/tools.html. As we learn about distributors for these boards, we will add them to our web page.

The O*NET Ability Profiler Administrator's OnLine Self-Assessment Quiz and the schedule for live Webinars in support of the O*NET Ability Profiler will be available on the O*NET Academy site upon release of the O*NET Ability Profiler at www.onetacademy.com

7. Inquiries. For further information about the O*NET Ability Profiler or to learn about other products or programs related to the O*NET Career Exploration Tools or the O*NET project, see the O*NET project website at www.doleta.gov/programs/onet. For specific questions, e-mail: o-net@dol.gov; call: 202-693-3660; or write to the: O*NET Project, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N5637, Washington, D.C. 20210-0002.