Validity of an assessment center for identifying future female officers in the military

Focused on a comparative evaluation of traditional selection procedures (e.g., selection interviews) with static and dynamic assessment techniques of an assessment center. The latter were designed to identify officer potential of 193 18-19 yr old women applicants for commissioned service in the military. All were admitted to officer's school, regardless of the assessment achievements obtained prior to arrival at the assessment center. The final score attained in officer training served to evaluate the predictive validity of all selection procedures compared. A high multiple correlation was found between assessment center predicting measures and final score in officer training. This validity was substantially higher than that attained in relation to the same Ss using traditional predictors (e.g., selection interviews).