American Board of Optometry Selects Prometric for Development and Delivery of Board Certification Exam
First Examination Slated for June, 2011
ST. LOUIS, Mo., July 16, 2010 ― The American Board of Optometry today announced that Prometric, a leading global provider of technology-enabled testing and assessment services, will be the ABO's partner in developing the new optometry board certification examination. The computer based examination will be offered across the United States and around the world through the Prometric global test center network.
"The selection of Prometric re-emphasizes our intent to deliver a credible, psychometrically valid examination," states David A. Cockrell, OD, ABO Chairman of the Board. "Prometric's experience with the American Boards of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and other respected organizations will be invaluable as we develop our examination. In addition, their testing delivery centers are state of the art."
Computer-based delivery of ABO's exam is slated to begin in June 2011. The first step in the examination development process will be to complete a job analysis of the profession. The results of the survey will be the basis for the examination's clinical content outline that will be released this fall.
"We would like to welcome the American Board of Optometry to Prometric and we look forward to helping ABO successfully develop and launch its new exam," said Bill Murtagh, Senior Vice President, Client Services and Sales at Prometric. "Many distinguished healthcare clients, including ABO, rely on Prometric's expertise to bring new exams to market, since we have decades of practical experience in test development and delivery that we can apply to new exam programs."
Optometrists may apply to become "Active Candidates" for ABO Board Certification on the American Board of Optometry Web site at www.abopt.org.
About the American Board Optometry (ABO)
The American Board of Optometry was incorporated on October 14, 2009. The first Board of Directors was appointed by the founding organizations consisting of the American Academy of Optometry, American Optometric Association, American Optometric Student Association and the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. For more information, please visit www.americanboardofoptometry.org.
About Prometric
Prometric, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ETS, is the recognized global leader in technology-enabled testing and assessment services. Its comprehensive suite of services, including test development, test delivery and data management capabilities, allows clients to develop and launch global testing programs as well as accurately measure program results and data. Prometric reliably delivers and administers more than seven million tests a year on behalf of 450 clients in the academic, professional, healthcare, government, corporate and information technology markets. It delivers tests flexibly via the Web or by utilizing a robust network of more than 10,000 test centers in 163 countries. For more information, please visit www.prometric.com.
