For the past 26 years, Sharon Shrock and Bill Coscarelli--as Shrock & Coscarelli--have provided testing, certification, and evaluation solutions for a number of global organizations.

Our book Criterion-Referenced Test Development: Technical and Legal Guidelines for Corporate Training and Certification, is a standard corporate reference. It is also the basis for our CRTD workshop and has won two professional society awards as the year's outstanding publication.

We provide workshops and consulting on nearly all issues related to Level 2 Assessment or Certification.

Our work has taken us to five countries with over 50 clients.  In our most unique partnership we established a formal relationship between Southern Illinois University and Hewlett-Packard to complete a global needs assessment on certification and to found the H-P Worldwide Test Center.

Here is a partial list of projects:

 

        ï   AT&T.  AT&T created a technology to supplement and/or eliminate training needs throughout the corporation.  The AT&T Performance Tool was a combination of expert system, hypermedia, and computer based tutorials.  As an instructional developers, S&C helped design the structure of the Performance Tool; and then served as a subject matter experts for their first such systemócriterion-referenced test development.  The literature cites this project as the first example of an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS).

 

        ï   Citibank.  Citibank has developed a new global training program for new managers.  S&C is conducting a Level III evaluation through interviews to determine how managers are using their training on the job.

 

        ï   Dun and Bradstreet.  D&B created a new training program for all new information analysts.  This was a twelve week program for which the final activity was a criterion referenced interview simulation whose outcome would determine a trainee's continued employment. This project required the design of a simulation system, the rating system, and training of raters to establish inter rater reliability in decisions that would be made in three training centers around the US.

 

        ï   Hewlett Packard.  Hewlett Packard began their association with S&C when they decided to implement certification standards for Customer Engineers.  S&C was responsible for establishing the worldwide testing process and documentation for electronic distribution of certification assessments.   In addition, a worldwide center was established in conjunction with Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to provide test services for Level I, II, III, and IV evaluations throughout the organization.

 

        ï   IBM.  IBM mandated that all courses, taken internally or externally, that may affect an employee's promotion or merit must be developed using a systematic approach to job content validation, course development, and Level II assessments (criterion-referenced tests).  Over a year -and-a half S&C co-developed IBM's procedures called Validating and Reporting Education Results, and trained all personnel responsible for implementing the new policy.

 

        ï   McDonald's.  All McDonald's' store managers must complete formal training at Hamburger University.  S&C worked with McDonald's to help them refine both pre and post assessment techniques for all students completing the capstone Advanced Operations Course.  In addition, they have consulted on the creation of Level III and Level IV assessment techniques.

 

        ï   Microsoft.  Microsoft was concerned that its sales staff and technical training people be competent in all significant aspects of their products.  In three separate contracts, S&C worked with them to clarify the legal, ethical, and professional dimensions of criterion-referenced assessment procedures in critical skills and knowledge areas as well as in training in task analysis procedures and evaluation of training results.

 

        ï   Old National Bank.  ONB is a regional bank with over $6 billion in assets.  It has been ranked number one by Finacial World amongUSA banks for "assets by earning momentum."  S&C worked with ONB to create a certification test for all tellers.

 

        ï   Saudi Aramco.  Saudi Aramco uses a rigorous testing process for all trainees.  S&C presented a series of workshops in the Dhahran region on test develop processes and reviewed the current state of the testing infrastructure in light of a need to move toward computer-based testing.

 

        ï   State Farm.  Our two-day workshop has become a regular course offering.