American Board of Assessment Psychology Corp
Attn: Dr. Miller, Psy.D., J.D., Exec. Dir., 4521 PGA Blvd., #185, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418
Phone: 1-561-261-5857

DUE TO A BACKLOG OF APPLICATIONS, WE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY NEW APPLICATIONS AFTER MAY 1, 2024

Diplomate Process

As interest in the more accurate assessment of human functioning continues to grow, an increasing number of psychologists are being asked to apply their expertise in test development, administration and scoring in a wide variety of venues. As a result, the public, governmental and private sectors, the health care industry and the legal system are looking for methods of identifying highly competent Assessment psychologists.

ABAP grew out of a specialty certification interest group made up of leading psychological testing experts in APA. ABAP was established in 1993 to protect the consumer of assessment psychological services by establishing the qualifications for those who specialize in test development, test scoring and related skills and certifying as Diplomates the applicants who meet those standards.

All Diplomates of ABAP automatically become Fellows of the American Academy of Assessment Psychology. The Academy is the education and training arm of the Board. The Board promotes a collegial, supportive relationship with applicants throughout the application process.

Application Procedures and Fee Schedule:

  1. General Qualifications: (Stage I)
    The applicant completes and submits the application, addressing issues including academic excellence, moral character, scientific integrity, relevant training and experience. Qualified applicants will proceed to work sample stage.
    Fee $100.00
  2. Work Sample: (Stage II)
    The applicant submits published works, psychological reports, raw data and documented applied expertise in Assessment Psychology.
    Fee $150.00
  3. Examination: (Stage III)
    The oral examination will determine if the applicant has sufficient knowledge of the body of assessment psychology and is engaged in the application of that body of knowledge at an advanced level of competence.
    Fee $350.00
  4. Membership: (Stage IV)
    Once a candidate becomes a member, annual dues are $50.00; however, dues will be waived for the year for members who volunteer to review applicant work samples and/or co-conduct candidate oral examinations.

Required Credentials:

Degree:

The candidate will be required to possess a doctoral degree in Psychology from an APA accredited program or a program demonstrated to be equivalent. Applicants must adhere to the APA Code of Ethics and possess an active license to practice Psychology. All forms of the doctoral degree (e.g., Ph.D., Psy.D., Ed.D.) will be acceptable.

Experience:

A total of 5 years experience in assessment, one of which may be pre-licensure. A year of experience requires 2000 hours of pracice with at least 50% in assessment related activities during those hours.

Experience may include:

  1. Work in the development of new or existing tests.
  2. Experimental or clinical research in areas of psychometrics including test validity and reliability.
  3. Clinical or research work on the application of tests to individual persons or groups.
  4. Training in ethical and methodological issues related to test development, research and publication.
  5. Preparation of publications or presentations in refereed professional forums or assessment journals.
  6. Study of the relationships between tests and external criteria appropriate to the area of testing.
  7. For clinical practitioners, preparation of test reports and summaries and the development of recommendations and conclusions for specific clinical populations.

Training:

Two years of supervised training. One year of the supervised training may be pre-licensure, but in no case may this count towards activities necessary to complete coursework requirements for the doctoral degree (excluding dissertation).