FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT EXAMINATIONS - DO THEY ACHIEVE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND MERIT PRINCIPLE GOALS?

• NCJ Number: 59730
• Author(s): ANON
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 145 pages
• Corporate Author: US Comptroller General
• Sale Source: Azimuth Inc.
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: THERE IS A CHARGE FOR MORE THAN ONE COPY

Annotation

TO DETERMINE WHETHER EXAMINING PROCEDURES FOR CIVIL SERVICE POSITIONS ARE ACHIEVING EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND MERIT PRINCIPLE GOALS, THIS REPORT EXAMINES FOUR FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT EXAMINATIONS.

Abstract

ANALYSES OF THE PROFESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CAREER EXAMINATION (PACE) AND THE JUNIOR FEDERAL ASSISTANT (JFA) TEST FOUND THAT BLACK APPLICANTS PASSED THE WRITTEN TESTS AT A SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER RATE THAN WHITES AND OTHER RACIAL MINORITIES, AND THAT FEW BLACKS WHO PASSED SCORED HIGH ENOUGH TO HAVE A REALISTIC CHANCE OF EMPLOYMENT CONSIDERATION. ACCORDING TO PACE SCORES, 58 PERCENT OF WHITE APPLICANTS PASSED THE TEST--16 PERCENT WITH A SCORE OF 90 OR ABOVE, HIGH ENOUGH FOR EMPLOYMENT CONSIDERATION; 56 PERCENT OF OTHER RACIAL MINORITIES PASSED--14 PERCENT WITH A SCORE OF 90 OR ABOVE; AND 12 PERCENT OF BLACK APPLICANTS PASSED--0.2 PERCENT WITH A SCORE OF 90 OR ABOVE. SIMILARLY, THE PROPORTION OF BLACKS WHO SCORED WELL IN THE CERTIFIABLE RANGE ON THE JFA EXAMINATION WAS STILL FAR LOWER THAN THAT OF WHITES--15 PERCENT OF WHITES IN THE CERTIFIABLE RANGE, COMPARED TO 5 PERCENT OF BLACKS. ON THE ACCOUNTANT-AUDITOR AND SOCIAL WORKER EXAMINATIONS, FOR WHICH NO WRITTEN TESTS ARE REQUIRED, PROPORTIONATELY AS MANY BLACKS AS WHITES SCORED WITHIN THE CERTIFIABLE RANGE. ALTHOUGH THE GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE (GAO), WHICH CONDUCTED THIS STUDY, DID NOT REACH A CONCLUSION CONCERNING THE QUESTION OF ADVERSE IMPACT, THE GAO DID FIND THAT FEDERAL AGENCIES WERE NOT KEEPING RECORDS ON BOTH THE RACE OR ETHNICITY OF JOB APPLICANTS, AND THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS, BY RACE, SEX, AND ETHNICITY, WHO ARE SELECTED FOR AN OCCUPATION USING PROCEDURES OTHER THAN CIVIL SERVICE JOB REGISTERS. IN ADDITION, GAO REVIEWED THE QUESTION OF TEST VALIDATION FOR PACE AND FOUND THAT (1) THE VALIDATION STRATEGY USED FOR PACE WAS APPROPRIATE, ALTHOUGH STANDARDS CONCERNING THE NEED FOR A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS AND INVESTIGATIONS OF TEST FAIRNESS WERE NOT FOLLOWED, BUT SHOULD HAVE BEEN; (2) JOB ANALYSIS FOR ALL OCCUPATIONS HIRED THROUGH PACE SHOULD BE COMPLETED--JOB ANALYSES HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED FOR ONLY 27 OF THE 118 OCCUPATIONS AVAILABLE THROUGH PACE; AND (3) FURTHER STUDIES SHOWING A STATISTICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEST SCORES AND MEASURES OF JOB PERFORMANCE MAY BE NEEDED--THESE STUDIES WERE PERFORMED ON ONLY 3 OF THE 12 TO 15 OCCUPATIONS WHERE THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN TECHNICALLY FEASIBLE. OTHER SUGGESTIONS ARE PROPOSED BY GAO, ALONG WITH AGENCY COMMENTS CONCERNING THIS REPORT, AND FURTHER DATA ON PACE AND THE JFA AND ACCOUNTANT--AUDITOR TESTS.