An Examination of the Validity of a Selection Instrument Used for Determining Applicant Eligibility for Admission to Architectural State Licensing Examinations

Federal guidelines for the development and use of employee selection procedures established by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and professional standards directly relevant to the development and use of assessment techniques for employment selection decisions, designed by the American Psychological Association in collaboration with the American Educational Research Association and the National Council on Measurement in Education, have made it clear that specific educational or work history requirements applied as standards for assessing the job suitability of an individual fall under the definition of a test. These federal guidelines and professional standards also have made it clear that, when there is no available evidence supporting a claim of validity for a selection test used for employment decisions, the user is responsible for validation of the test. In this regard, the appropriate model to be applied for an evaluation of the job-relatedness and validity of the test is criterion-related validity. However, it has only been within the past year that the Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinating Council recommended that licensing and certification boards be included under the definition of an employer and, hence, as users of selection tests for making licensing decisions. The general concern of this study was to examine the degree of criterion-related validity that could be claimed for the educational and work history requirements and the provisions for meeting these requirements as prescribed by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards for attaining eligibility for admission to a qualifying examination for state licensure in the area of architecture. These requirements and provisions are delineated in the Table of Equivalents for Education, Training and Experience, which is used in various degrees by Examining Boards throughout the United States in order to estimate which applicants are and which applicants are not likely to possess the minimum range and depth of architectural knowledge, skills, and abilities that would qualify the applicant as a prospective licensed architect and, hence, which applicants will or will not be permitted to take a qualifying examination for licensure..