Pearson Assessments New Distributor of Sigma Survey for Police Officers Test (SSPO)

SSPO Test Measures Police Officer Candidates' Writing Skills and Cognitive Ability

BLOOMINGTON, Minn.—August 24, 2006—Chiefs of police and others who hire police officers have a tool available to help them more accurately select officers who can write clear, defensible incident reports. Pearson Assessments now distributes the Sigma Survey for Police Officers (SSPO), a test for screening candidates for the position of police officer. It was designed to identify job candidates who have the cognitive skills necessary to write meaningful and credible police incident reports and to use sound practical judgment in police situations.

The SSPO targets police candidates with questions relevant to police situations. The Incident Report Writing Aptitude section helps evaluate the candidate’s ability to write clear, coherent incident reports by assessing spelling, vocabulary, and grammar skills. The Police Problem Solving section helps measure the candidate’s ability to use appropriate judgment in events such as patrolling, disorderly groups of individuals, descriptions of suspects, and theft issues. Results are compared against a pool of more than 1,400 candidates for the position of police officer in forces across North America. The test is inexpensive and brief, taking only a half-hour to complete. It fits into the police department’s round-the-clock environment with computerized scoring or 24/7 fax-in scoring.

SSPO author Douglas N. Jackson, PhD, (1929-2004) is well-known in testing circles. He served as president of the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology and was a member of the Examination Committee for the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards. He also chaired the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessments and served as president of APA’s Division for Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics.

Pearson Assessments is an established, trusted provider of tests and related tools and technologies and offers several instruments used in assessing individuals for high-risk, high-stress public safety positions. Other commonly used instruments from Pearson Assessments include the MMPI-2™ (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2™) and the GAMA® (General Ability Measure for Adults) tests.

“We are excited to offer the SSPO to our law enforcement customers. We now can offer them a more complete pre- and post-offer battery of tests,” said Carol Watson, executive vice president and publisher for Pearson Assessments. “And, we have been receiving favorable comments from police personnel that are familiar with the test.”

Psychologist Steve Griffin of the Center for Applied Psychology and Forensic Studies in Chicago has incorporated the SSPO test into his candidate pre-offer evaluations for police departments in the Chicago area. “One reason we selected the SSPO is that for the candidates we tested we found it does not discriminate against people without a college degree or toward ethnic minorities,” he said. Griffin found that “the applicants who scored well on the SSPO also presented much better in the oral boards.”

The Saskatchewan Police Commission approached Jeffrey Pfeifer, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Justice Studies Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Chair in Police Studies, for help in finding a test to assess candidates’ cognitive skills. After completing a full review of available tests, Pfeiffer recommended the SSPO test. He said, “Members of the Saskatchewan Police Commission especially appreciate that results are returned quickly; an important factor when their applicants sometimes drive several hours to the test site.”

Poorly written or illegible incident reports can be costly for police departments when officers must backtrack to rewrite reports or when such a report causes a judge to reject a case. By incorporating the SSPO into their testing protocols, police departments may ultimately save time and money by identifying candidates with the writing and cognitive skills needed to write defensible reports and make appropriate decisions.

For more information about the SSPO, visit PearsonAssessments.com or contact Michelle Knoben at 800-627-7271, ext. 3290 or Michelle.Knoben@pearson.com.

About Pearson's Assessment group

Pearson Assessments provides assessment instruments and data capture tools and technologies for use in education, health care and business settings. Backed by nearly a half century of knowledge and expertise, Pearson Assessments -- integrating Pearson NCS and the assessment division of AGS Publishing with the original Pearson Assessments business -- offers products and services to deliver the accurate, reliable and usable information that professionals seek. Pearson Assessments is a business of Pearson Education, the world’s largest integrated education company, which in turn is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the international media company. Pearson’s other primary operations include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.

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