1997 Conference Rapidly Approaching

A report from the Program Committee

The 1997 IPMAAC Conference will be held at the Hyatt Newporter in beautiful Newport Beach, California from June 22nd through the 26th. The conference program committee has assembled a rich and exciting program which promises to offer topics of interest for all assessment professionals. Conference highlights include:

Pre-Conference Workshops

On Sunday, June 22nd, several half-day workshops will be offered addressing a wide variety of topics. The pre-conference workshops include: Analyzing the Utility of Selection Systems; How to Develop and Use Organizational Assessment to Improve Organizational Functioning; Professional and Legal Guides for Testing and Selection; The Basics of Personnel Selection: A Crash Course; Applying Job Analysis to Assessment Design and Validation; and Recruitment and Selection on the Internet: Opportunities and Issues.

Invited Speakers

The conference keynote address, The Changing Nature of Work: Implications for Assessment, will be delivered by Anne Howard, Ph.D. The WRIPAC invited speaker, Paul Sackett, Ph.D., will address Revising the Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests: Implications for Personnel Testing and Assessment. Linda Gottfredson, Ph.D., MAPAC's invited speaker, will address The Flight From g in Employment Testing. The conference will close on a high note with Sheldon Zedeck, Ph.D. addressing Issues in Public Sector Testing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

Foundations Track

The Foundations Track, which served to be very popular at the 1996 conference, will be offered again this year. The Foundations Track offers in-depth, half-day workshops on topics integral to quality personnel selection. This year's workshops will include: The Basics of Exam Item Writing; Passing Point Methodology: A Workshop; and, Developing Structured Oral Examinations.

Managerial Track

Something new this year will be a Managerial Track which offers extended sessions on topics related to the management and administration of the assessment function. Managerial Track topics will include: The Collective Wisdom of the Workforce; Developing a Philosophy of Management; and Managing the Selection Function: Challenges of the Late 1990s.

Concurrent Sessions

The conference is rounded out by a variety of paper sessions, tutorials, forums, and symposia addressing topics such as advances in assessment, information technology in assessment, measures of employee performance, alternative selection procedures, law enforcement selection, and psychometric issues in assessment.

It is still not too late to participate in the conference. Session chairpersons are still needed. If you are interested in serving as a session chairperson, contact Mike Willihnganz at (916) 732-6051. The 1997 IPMAAC Conference is one that you will definitely not want to miss! Make your travel plans and get ready to head to the beach -- Newport Beach, June 22nd through the 26th.