Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990 TAG: 9007110485
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The General Aptitude Test Battery will be phased out as a result of a U.S. Labor Department policy change announced Tuesday by Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole.
The Labor Department has discontinued the test pending a two-year study "because of concerns over whether the test adequately serves all individuals, including minorities, veterans, those with disabilities and older workers," the federal agency said in a statement.
Cantrell said Tuesday that effective Aug. 1, VEC will not accept job orders from companies that require applicants to take the aptitude test.
The test has been under scrutiny since 1986, when the Justice Department raised legal questions about the adjustment of test scores on the basis of race.
Raw scores on the tests are converted to percentile scores according to separate tables divided by race. The effect of the adjustments is that some groups, principally whites and Asians, are given lower percentile scores than others for the same raw score.
The Justice Department agreed to withhold legal action until the testing process could be reviewed by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.
Criticism of the test escalated last year when the academy issued a report, "Fairness in Employment Testing." The report said the test and its application by local employment offices needed improvement to ensure fair treatment of all applicants.
Of particular concern was the adjustment of the scores of minorities, which the Labor Department described as "an experimental feature."
Del. Frank R. Hargrove, R-Hanover County, asked the VEC last month to tell job applicants and potential employers about the policy of adjusting scores. He also asked the VEC to give employers an applicant's raw test scores.
"It's highly inappropriate the way the grades are adjusted," Hargrove said.
Of the state's 12 largest employers, only Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. uses the test, according to a survey by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
About 12 percent of the 350,000 people who sought job placement assistance from the VEC during the last program year took the test and fewer than 175 of the state's 126,000 employers require the test for applicants, according to VEC records.
Newport News Shipbuilding, the state's largest employer, uses the test as part of its screening process, a company spokesman said.
"We were aware there were some adjustments (in scoring based on race) but we were not aware of the extent of those adjustments," Jack Schnaedter said.
The 12-part, 2 1/2-hour test includes sections on vocabulary and mathematics. It contains timed exercises in which test-takers must match shapes and objects. It also includes several exercises with peg boards, washers and bolts that test manual dexterity.
Test results are reported to employers by percentile in five broad "job families" that include about 12,000 occupations in the United States. Percentile scores are intended to indicate an individual's aptitude for jobs in each family.
by CNB