JTA Update

A job task analysis (JTA), also known as a practice analysis, is a survey-based assessment that identifies the specific tasks within a job role and provides insights about the difficulty, importance, and frequency of the tasks. A JTA is a crucial step in the construction and validation of certification tests, ensuring that the questions on the exam are relevant to the job/certification program.

The American Board of Optometry conducts a JTA every 5 years to ensure that its board certification examination is keeping pace with changes in the profession. In the fall of 2020, ABO conducted its third JTA, sending out over 23,000 surveys to optometrists across the country. The results of the JTA were compiled into a final report that is available on the ABO website at here. The ABO is willing to share the results of the JTA survey with other organizations or groups who may have a use for the information gathered. If interested, please contact us.

Once the results of the survey were compiled, the JTA task force used the information to develop a blueprint for the board certification examination over the next 5 years. The new examination blueprint is posted on the ABO website here. The topical outline and weighting of each topic are based directly on the survey results, ensuring that the examination reflects today’s optometric practices.

Thank you to all who participated in this JTA project – the task force members who devoted many hours to developing the survey and constructing the exam blueprint, and those optometrists who responded to the survey. We’re excited to launch the new examination, based on this JTA, in March 2021.