12836 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 40 / Wednesday, February 28, 2001 / Notices

NATIONAL SKILL STANDARDS

BOARD

Solicitation of Comments

AGENCY: National Skill Standards Board.

SUMMARY: The National Skill Standards

Board (NSSB) is building a voluntary

national system of skill standards,

assessments, and certification that will

enhance the ability of the U.S. to

compete effectively in a global

economy. Industry-led, voluntary

coalitions, called Voluntary

Partnerships, are developing the skill

standards, assessment, and certification

systems within fifteen NSSB-defined

industry sectors. The NSSB has

developed a set of criteria for

assessment, against which assessments

developed by the Voluntary

Partnerships will be evaluated for

approval by the Board. The NSSB seeks

public comment on these criteria to

ensure clarity and comprehensiveness.

Comments must be submitted in writing

as described in the ‘‘Request for and

Resolution of Comments’’ in the

‘‘Supplementary Information’’ section

below in order to be considered, and

details on submitting comments via email, fax, or regular mail are provided

in the ‘‘Addresses’’ section of this

announcement.

DATES: The National Skill Standards

Board will accept written comments on

the criteria for assessment on or before

April 30, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Please send comments via

regular mail to: NSSB, Attention:

Elizabeth Kolmstetter, Sr. Director for

Standards, Assessment, and

Certification, 1441 L Street, N.W., Suite

9000, Washington, DC 20005–3512. To

submit comments via fax, transmit to

Elizabeth Kolmstetter, Assessment

Criteria, at 202–254–8646. To submit

comments via the Internet, go to http:/

/www.nssb.org. Click on the icon

entitled ‘‘View and Comment on

Assessment Criteria Here.’’

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

further information on the Voluntary

National System of Industry Skill

Standards, Assessment, and

Certification, contact National Skill

Standards Board (NSSB): 1441 L Street,

N.W., Suite 9000, Washington DC

20005, 202–254–8628, http://

www.nssb.org.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Background

II. Authorizing Legislation

III. NSSB Criteria for Assessment

IV. Request for and Resolution of Comments

I. Background

The National Skill Standards Act of

1994 created ‘‘a National Skill

Standards Board to serve as a catalyst in

stimulating the development and

adoption of a voluntary national system

of skill standards and of assessment and

certification of attainment of skill

standards’’ (see Section II below). The

Act defines a skill standard as one that

specifies the level of knowledge and

skills required to successfully perform

work-related functions within an

industry cluster. Industry clusters are

broad groups of industries defined by

the NSSB to delineate the scope of

employment covered by skill standards.

They are based on the federal

government’s official 1997 North

American Industry Classification

System. Industry coalitions called

Voluntary Partnerships (VPs) are

developing the skill standards,

assessment and certification systems

within fifteen industry clusters. The

skill standards, and therefore

assessments and certifications, are being

developed to reflect the needs of highperformance organizations.

II. Authorizing Legislation

Public Law 103–227, Title V, National

Skill Standards Act of 1994.

III. NSSB Criteria for Assessment

The National Skill Standards Board

(NSSB) will use the following specific

criteria to evaluate the degree to which

skill standards systems include an

appropriate assessment system plan,

and the degree to which this plan

adheres to statutory requirements and

NSSB policy on assessment. Criteria are

being developed for certification and

will be available for public comment

before the end of the year. Voluntary

Partnerships must demonstrate

adherence to the criteria in order to

receive NSSB approval and ultimate

endorsement of the entire system.

Criteria Related to Methodology

A1. Assessments are reliable, fair, and

valid, accurately measuring the skills

they are designed to measure, and are

consistent with federal civil rights laws

with respect to race, color, gender, age,

religion, ethnicity, disability, and

national origin. To achieve these goals

of reliability, validity, and fairness, the

assessments are developed in a manner

consistent with relevant professional

and technical standards and government

guidelines. Professional standards

include the APA/AERA/NCME

Standards for Educational and

Psychological Tests and the Society for

Industrial and Organizational

Psychology’s Principles for the

Validation and Use of Employee

Selection Procedures. Government

guidelines are found in 29 Code of

Federal Regulations 1607, Uniform

Guidelines on Employee Selection

Procedures.

A2. Assessments are neutral on their

face with respect to the groups protected

by civil rights law.

A3. Assessments are manifestly jobrelated and consistent with business

necessity, reflecting only the knowledge

and skills (including language and

physical skills) actually required for

competent performance.

A4. Assessments are as objective as

possible. When subjective measures are

necessary, techniques (for example,

administrator and rater training, rating

guides or scales, checklists, structured

assessments, scripts, etc.) are applied to

increase the consistency of judgments.

A5. The assessments are practical in

terms of time, expense, and resource

requirements involved in both their

development (that is, creation and

validation of the assessments) and

delivery (that is, ongoing

administration, scoring, and

maintenance/updating of the

assessments).

Criteria Related to Components of the

Assessment System

B1. Assessments capture the full

richness of the skill standards. This

means knowledge and skills are

measured in the context of the work

described by the critical work functions,

key activities, and performance

indicators.

B2. Assessments incorporate

measures of performance that reflect the

characteristics of best-practice, highperformance workplaces. In addition,

assessment content and format are

designed to maximize the acceptability

of the assessments to users and to

maximize the value of the assessments

as signals of the types of skills,

knowledge, and performance required

by high-performance workplaces.

B3. Assessments are modular,

allowing individuals to demonstrate

proficiency in and receive credit for

attainment of a portion of a skill

standard.

B4. Assessments are not limited to a

single assessment tool or method and

may include multiple measures of the

same skill, as long as they are consistent

with NSSB assessment criteria.

B5. Innovative methods of assessment

(for example, new types of simulations

or performance measures), as well as

innovative methods of assessment

delivery (for example, computer- or

video-based assessment), are

encouraged, as long as they are

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 40 / Wednesday, February 28, 2001 / Notices 12837

consistent with the NSSB assessment

criteria.

Criteria Related to the Use of

Assessment

C1. Assessments are analyzed for their

adverse impact on the groups protected

by civil rights law and the Voluntary

Partnership selects the assessments with

the least adverse impact without

sacrificing validity.

C2. Assessments are accessible to

people who are able to demonstrate

their competence by virtue of their

experience, self-instruction, or formal

programs of instruction.

C3. Alternative formats, assistance, or

other provisions are made for

assessments in order to reasonably

accommodate persons with disabilities,

consistent with the American with

Disabilities Act of 1990 and the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended

in 1992.

C4. In order to assure the greatest

possible access, pre-assessment

information is provided to potential

candidates and other users including

information about the actual

assessments and the assessment process

(for example, topics covered, how much

it costs, how long it takes, where it is

available, and any preparation materials

available). Information about the

assessments does not include disclosure

of the assessments themselves.

C5. To the extent economically

feasible, assessments are available in

locations which do not necessitate

undue travel time or costs for

individuals.

C6. All individuals who are assessed

are provided feedback on their

performance. At a minimum, feedback

includes whether the candidate passed

or failed certification and whether the

candidate passed or failed each

assessment module. Mechanisms are

established to offer feedback and scoring

results as quickly as possible. This

criterion does not require Voluntary

Partnerships to divulge information

about assessments, either through

feedback or re-assessment, which is so

specific as to endanger the security of

the assessment.

C7. Individuals who do not

successfully complete an assessment are

afforded some opportunity to be

assessed again.

C8. Assessment systems are

administered in a manner consistent

with NSSB criteria and as approved by

the NSSB. Administration of the

assessment system includes its

development, oversight, quality control,

and routine operation.

V. Request for and Resolution of

Comments

The National Skill Standards Board

(NSSB) requests that comments

submitted address one or more of the

following areas:

• The adequacy and completeness of

this list of criteria;

• The clarity of the criteria;

• Examples or descriptions of how

the VPs can meet the criteria; and,

• Examples of how to document

compliance with the criteria.

The NSSB shall review and take into

consideration all comments; will

respond in writing to comments as

appropriate; and, will make revisions as

deemed appropriate. At the end of the

comment period the NSSB will post a

summary of comments on the NSSB

Website www.nssb.org. A summary of

the response to comments and a notice

of revision will be posted at a later date.

Signed at Washington DC this 23rd day of

February 2001.

Edie West,

Executive Director, National Skill Standards

Board.

[FR Doc. 01–4899 Filed 2–27–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–BF–P