The Issue Whether Petitioner is entitled to additional credit for his solutions to three problems on the Principles and Practice of Engineering portion of the engineering licensure examination administered on October 29, 1999, by the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors.
Findings Of Fact Based upon the evidence adduced at hearing and the record as a whole, the following findings of fact are made: On October 29, 1999, as part of his effort to obtain a Florida engineering license, Petitioner sat for the Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination (Examination). This is a national examination developed and administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES). Petitioner chose to be tested in mechanical engineering. Petitioner received a raw score of 47 on the Examination. For the mechanical engineering specialization, a raw score of 47 converts to a score of 69. To pass the Examination, a converted score of 70 is needed. Petitioner formally requested (in writing, by letter dated March 13, 2000) that his solutions to Problems 141, 144, and 147 on the Examination be rescored. Petitioner's written request was made to the Board's "Legal Section," which forwarded it to the NCEES. The NCEES's rescoring of Petitioner's solutions to Problems 141, 144, and 147 resulted in his receiving no additional points. The Board received the NCEES's rescoring results on or about April 25, 1999. After receiving a letter from Petitioner (dated May 3, 2000) requesting a "formal hearing," the Board referred the matter to the Division. Problems 141, 144, and 147 were worth ten raw points each. Petitioner received four raw points for his solution to Problem 141. In his solution to Problem 141, Petitioner failed to take into consideration bending stresses and loads. Therefore, in accordance with the requirements and guidelines of the NCEES scoring plan for this problem, the highest raw score that he could have received for his solution to this problem was a four, which is the score he received. Petitioner received a raw score of two for his solution to Problem 144. In rescoring Petitioner's solution to this problem, the NCEES rescorer made the following "comments": A correct solution [to this problem] must include an energy balance on the open feedwater heater to determine the fraction of flow through turbine T1 that is extracted and taken to the open feedwater heater. a correct equation for determining the specific work developed by the two turbines on the basis of one pound entering turbine T1. The equation the examinee has written assumes the same flow through both turbines. determination of the mass rate of flow (m1) at the inlet to turbine T1. This is determined by dividing the net power by the specific net work. determining the rate at which heat is added in the steam generator and reheater. finally, dividing the rate at which heat is added in the steam generator by the heating value times 0.75 with the appropriate conversion factors. The examinee has used the new power (200 MW or 200 x 105)as the rate at which heat is added in the steam generator and reheater. This is incorrect. The scoring plan states 2 RUDIMENTARY KNOWLEDGE . . . OR-(3) determines tons/day = Wnet/7650, Wnet = (h1 - h2) + (h3 - h4) This is what the examinee has done. Based on the scoring plan and the above analysis, a score of 2 is recommended. There has been no showing that the foregoing "analysis" was in any way flawed or that application of the requirements and guidelines of the NCEES scoring plan for this problem should have resulted in Petitioner receiving a raw score higher than two for his solution to Problem 144. Petitioner received a raw score of four for his solution to Problem 147. In rescoring Petitioner's solution to this problem, the NCEES rescorer made the following "comments": The examinee used an incorrect temperature difference in [his] calculation of the heat transferred by convection and radiation from the outer surface of the pipe. Most of the examinee's work for requirement (b) was not needed. In doing that unnecessary work, however, [he] made two significant errors: 1. [He] evaluated a radiation exchange between the steam inside the pipe and the environment surrounding the pipe. The pipe shields the environment surrounding the pipe from the steam. 2. The examinee's equation "Total heat Loss = Conductive + Radiation" is not satisfactory. In attempting to evaluate the heat transfer from the insul[a]ted pipe, [he] assumed that the outer surface heat transfer coefficient was very high; 3.0 is not high. The examinee made no attempt to evaluate the payback period for the insulation. There has been no showing that the foregoing analysis was in any way flawed. For the errors made by Petitioner in his solution to Problem 147, a 50% "grade reduction" was warranted pursuant to the "error analysis" portion of the NCEES scoring plan for this problem. 1/ The remaining portions of the scoring plan for Problem 147 provided as follows: 10: Essentially complete and correct solution. May have one or two minor math, data, or chart reading errors. . . . Grade of 8: A grade of 8 will result from having any combination of the above listed errors which causes a grade reduction between 10% and 50%. A Grade of 6: A grade of 6 will result from having any combination of the above listed errors which causes a grade reduction between 30% and 50%. Grade of 4: 2/ A grade of 4 will result from having any combination of the above listed errors which causes a grade reduction between 50% and 70%. Grade of 2: A grade of 2 will result from having any combination of the above listed errors which causes a grade reduction between 70% and 90%. Grade of Zero: Nothing presented that warrants a grade of at least 10%. It is unclear from a reading of the NCEES scoring plan for Problem 147 whether a grade reduction of 50% should result in a raw score of four or six. The plan is ambiguous in this regard. While it may be reasonable to interpret the plan as requiring that a raw score of six be given where there is a grade reduction of 50%, the plan is also reasonably susceptible to the interpretation that a 50% grade reduction should result in a raw score of four, the score Petitioner received for his solution to Problem 147. It therefore cannot be said that the scoring of his solution to this problem was inconsistent with the problem's scoring plan, as reasonably construed.
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that a final order be entered rejecting Petitioner's challenge to the failing score he received from the NCEES on the Principles and Practice of Engineering portion of the October 29, 1999, engineering licensure examination. DONE AND ENTERED this 13th day of October, 2000, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. STUART M. LERNER Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 13th day of October, 2000.
Findings Of Fact Test Anxiety at the February 1994 General Contractor's Examination The General Contractor's Examination used in the licensing of individuals as general contractors is divided into three parts, each of which may be passed separately. Credit for passing any one portion of the examination is good for a period of only one year. An applicant for a license as a General Contractor is limited in taking any part of the examination to three times per year. If an applicant fails to pass all three parts of the examination in one year, therefore, the applicant must commence the examination process anew, as if none of the portions of the examination had been passed. On February 17, 1994, William T. Davenport, sat for the Contract Administration portion of the exam for the third time within a one-year period. At each of the two examinations taken earlier, he had passed one portion. The Contract Administration portion was the only part he had not yet passed. Mr. Davenport was anxious as he waited to take the exam. He fully realized that if he did not pass the Contract Administration portion he would have to start the examination process all over again. His concern was generated not only from the perspective of delay and inconvenience attendant to having to repeat the entire exam process, but also from the perspective of cost. Repeating the process would require him to pay the full exam fee after having paid already a full examination fee for each of three examinations in the year of his attempt to successfully complete the examination requirements for licensure. Different Approved Reference Lists The Construction Industry Licensing Board approves reference materials that applicants may use during the examination and issues a list of those materials periodically. The Reference List for the February examination covered the period between November 1, 1993 and February 28, 1994. On that list was a book Mr. Davenport brought with him to the examination: Practical Mathematics, 3rd Edition, Copyright 1972. As Mr. Davenport sat nervously awaiting commencement of the exam, a proctor removed Practical Mathematics from his desk indicating that use of the book was not allowed. Mr. Davenport relates his response to the incident in this way, (Tr. 26.) The anxiety was very high at that point. My concern was try to get through the exam and, when the book was taken away from me, I panicked, to be blunt. I just totally panicked. Unlike the testing period from November 1, 1993 to February 28, 1994, Practical Mathematics was not on the Reference List for the next period of testing, from March 1, through June 30, 1994. The later list, issued January 13, had been out for over a month at the time of the exam. It is likely the proctor removed the book in mistaken reliance on the later list. As it turned out, the proctor returned the book to Mr. Davenport either shortly before the examination commenced. As he did so, the proctor commented, "Well, I don't know." (Tr. 25.) Mr. Davenport did not use the book during the exam because, "[a]t that point, I was reluctant to use the book ... I didn't want the test to be invalidated and I didn't want to be challenged." Id. Not using the book proved to be critical to whether Mr. Davenport passed the Contract Administration portion of the exam. He scored a 68. A passing grade is 70. Had Mr. Davenport answered correctly question number 3, which was worth four points, he would have received a 72, a passing grade. The question involves applying a percentage. Mr. Davenport could not remember whether in obtaining a percentage it is necessary to multiply or divide. Practical Mathematics has a chapter on percentages. The chapter teaches that multiplication is the arithmetic method to use when obtaining a percentage. But Mr. Davenport guessed that division should be used. He divided by the percentage and, therefore, chose an incorrect answer. Question number 3 on the exam is one of the questions that Mr. Davenport challenged originally: A 2-man crew has consistently worked at a labor performance standard ratio of 0.85 to 1. They are selected for a job requiring 60 (standard time) man-hours to perform. They will NOT work more than 8 hours per workday. NO work will be done on Saturdays or Sundays. There are NO holidays during the time the work will be performed. According to Builder's Guide to Accounting, if the job must be finished NO later than Friday afternoon at 5:00 p.m., what is the last day that they could be scheduled to start the job? Thursday of the previous week Friday of the previous week Monday of the same week Tuesday of the same week Respondent's. Ex. No. 2. The correct answer is "(D) Tuesday of the same week." The Department's expert witness explained that the correct answer is reached by way of an algebraic formula. The formula is: "the labor performance standard ratio = x (the unknown) divided by the standard time man hours" and then that answer is divided by 2 since the crew is a 2 man crew. Applied to the problem, the formula is: .85/1 = x/60, with x, once known, divided by 2. Using the formula, the calculation goes as follows: .85/1 = x/60; multiplying both sides of the equation by 60, .85(60) = x; carrying out the arithmetic calculation, x equals 51; 51/2 = 25.5. It takes 25.5 hours, therefore, for the crew to complete the job. If, as the problem states, the job must be completed by Friday at 5 p.m. and the crew works 8 hours a day, then it will take the crew 3 full days and 1.5 additional hours to complete the job. Working backward from Friday, the crew will work 8 hours on Friday, 8 hours on Thursday, and 8 hours on Wednesday for a total of 24 hours. The crew must start on Tuesday of the same week to work the additional 1.5 hours required to complete the job. One does not need to use algebra, however, to solve the problem. One can simply obtain the number of actual hours needed to complete the job by applying 85 percent (the crew's labor performance standard) to the number of standard time manhours called for by the job, in this case, 60. Here is where Mr. Davenport needed Practical Mathematics. Not knowing whether to obtain the actual hours by multiplying .85 times 60 or dividing .85 into 60, he guessed, in error, division. Through the use of division, it appears incorrectly that the number of manhours needed is 70.588. Divided by two, to take into account that there are two members of the crew, it would take the crew 35.294 hours. If it took the crew 35 hours and a fraction to complete the job on time, the crew would need to start on Monday of the same week. "(C) Monday of the same week," is the answer chosen by Mr. Davenport. Other Distractions and the Site of the Exam The examination was conducted in the Tallahassee office of the National Assessment Institute (NAI). The NAI was under contract to the Department as the vendor to conduct the exam. At the time of the examination, the exam site was a room approximately forty feet by thirteen feet four inches in size. It contained nine tables, each 18 inches by eight feet. The tables were spaced 35 inches from each other. At each table were two straight-backed chairs. There were seven candidates present for the examination. The first and last tables were unoccupied. Each of the seven candidates were allotted 34 square feet of floor space to be occupied by the candidate, the chair, the table and materials used in the exam. On the east wall of the exam room were three plate glass fixed windows. Two of the windows are 48 inches long by 36 inches tall and one is 36 inches long by 31 inches tall. The glass is one-eighth inch thick non- commercial grade. The windows are acceptable under NAI guidelines. On the other side of the windows is a workroom that measured 15.25 by 17.5 feet. Through these windows the examination supervisor seated in the work room can monitor the performance of the proctors in the exam room and see the candidates as they take the exam. The candidates, seated to the left of the workroom, do not face the workroom. Rather, their right side is exposed to the workroom. If the tables are numbered 1 through 9 on Respondent's Ex. No. 1, beginning with 1 on the side of the room marked on the exhibit as "N" or north, candidates who were seated at tables 4 through 8 were directly exposed to the workroom windows. Mr. Davenport was seated at one of the tables exposed to the workroom windows, most likely table 3, 4 or 5, that is, one of the center 3 tables. During the exam, he could see employees through the windows moving in the workroom and hear noise from the workroom. There were four employees who were present at one time or another in the workroom. Three of these employees were also engaged in proctoring the examination. In addition to the visual diversion posed by the four employees in the workroom, Mr. Davenport could hear sounds emanating from the room. The doors to the workroom, open so that the exam supervisor seated in the workroom could hear what occurred in the exam room, also allowed sounds from the workroom into the exam room. The source of the sound was the printer working, the four workers conversing from time to time and other noises associated with an office work environment. Sight of the employees and noise from the workroom prevented petitioner from fully concentrating on the exam. Mr. Davenport was also distracted by the activities of the proctors while in the exam room. During the four hours he sat for the exam, three of the four employees he observed in the workroom were also acting as proctors. They left the workroom in a rotation in order to spell each other. During their shifts as proctors, the three monitored the exam room. Mr. Davenport felt distracted by the coming and goings of the three as they rotated in and out of the room. Although there was a table designated for the proctors at a corner outside the workroom across from table 3, they rarely sat there. They sat at one of the empty tables or walked beside the seated candidates, all the time carrying out the function of a proctor: observing the candidates during examination. The FCILB Examination Administration Manual, applicable to the February General Contractor's exam, details the responsibilities of proctors in sixteen separate counts. No. 13 reads: Proctors observe at all times and move quietly about the room. Proctors do not disturb or distract candidates during the examination. If speaking is necessary, a proctor needs to be quiet and brief as possible. Proctors avoid asking candidates to move chairs to get around them, standing too close or directly behind candidates, or rustling papers and talking to other proctors in the vicinity. Petitioner's Ex. No. 2, FCILB Examination Administration Manual, p. 2-5. Movement of the proctors was necessary during the exam because of its open-book format. It is incumbent on the proctors of an open-book exam to insure that candidates do not copy questions form the examination into their reference materials. Other Candidates Reactions to the NAI's Tallahassee Office Among the three proctors the day of the exam was Ms. Jean Love. Ms. Love is also the Office Manager of the NAI's Tallahassee Office. She has worked for NAI for over two years. Before that she worked for eight and one-half years with the Department in examination services, during which she administered exams, including acting as a proctor for exams. In addition to the daily operations of the office, she oversees the administration of examinations, a function she fulfilled at the February General Contractor's exam this year. Ms. Love did not see any unusual or distracting activities on the part of the other two proctors and did not undertake any activities, in her opinion, that would have violated any of the responsibilities of proctors, including those quoted, above, from the FCILB Examination Administration Manual. The activities during the exam in the workroom, undertaken under Ms. Love's supervision, were normal activities undertaken every day at the NAI Tallahassee Office during and outside of times of examinations. Aside from typical office activities, such as conducting telephone conversations, scheduling candidates for tests, and doing paperwork that included hand-folding documentation, there was no unusual activity the day of the exam. The only event in the workroom that contributed at all to the sound of normally quiet office activity was the validation of a single candidate's check. No complaints about noise in the workroom during the February General Contractor's Exam were registered with the NAI Tallahassee Office. Nor did any of the candidates that day complain about the activities of the proctors. Ms. Love did not learn of Mr. Davenport's complaint until after he filed his challenge to the examination questions. While a proctor may have from time to time stood near Mr. Davenport as he took the exam, none of the proctors hovered over him or, in Ms. Love's opinion, did anything that would distract the average candidate. No complaint during the examination was made by Mr. Davenport. He did not complain about inability to concentrate on the exam until after he received the exam results. During Ms. Love's two years at the NAI Tallahassee office, no candidate, prior to Mr. Davenport, had ever complained about the testing environment for any reason. The comments she has received from candidates following exams have been solely complimentary. Over the last two years, the office has administered between 15 and 20 tests per month. Complimentary comments are made, on average, by one candidate per test. In the last two years the office has received, at a minimum, well in excess of 350 compliments on the testing environment from candidates. In contrast, Mr. Davenport's complaint stands alone as the only complaint about the office testing environment in the last two years at the NAI's Tallahassee Office.
Recommendation It is, accordingly, RECOMMENDED, in the alternative: That petitioner's request for reexamination or a passing grade on the "Contract Administration, Division I" portion of the General Contractor's examination administered in February 1994 be DENIED; or, in the alternative, If the Construction Industry Licensing Board is willing to overlook the petitioner's failure to challenge his grade specifically on the appropriation of the book before the examination in the petition for formal hearing and the Department's legitimate objection to the presentation of evidence on the issue, that petitioner be allowed to sit for reexamination and, if he passes the Contract Administration portion of the exam, be credited with passing the other two portions of the exam as well as if all three portions had been passed in one year. DONE and ENTERED this 1st day of December, 1994. DAVID M. MALONEY Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1550 (904) 488-9675 Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 1st day of December, 1994. APPENDIX Petitioner's proposed findings of fact Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, and 13 are adopted, in substance, insofar as material. With respect to petitioner's proposed finding of fact No. 1, the first and last sentences are adopted. The remainder of the proposed finding, and in particular the reference to Linda Chaffin, test proctor, is rejected because it is either not supported by the evidence or argumentative in nature rather than factual. Petitioner's proposed finding of fact No. 2 is rejected as against the weight of the evidence. Petitioner's proposed finding of fact Nos. 7 and 8 are rejected as unsupported by the evidence. With respect to petitioner's proposed finding of fact No. 11, the reference to Linda Chaffin is rejected. Ms. Chaffin was not identified by the evidence as the proctor who removed the book from petitioner prior to the exam. Respondent's proposed findings of fact are adopted, in substance, insofar as material. COPIES FURNISHED: William T. Davenport 336 14th Avenue, North Jacksonville, FL 32250 William W. Woodyard Assistant General Counsel D B P R 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-0750 Richard Hickok, Executive Director C I L B 7960 Arlington Expy., Ste. 300 Jacksonville, FL 32311-7467 Jack McRay General Counsel D B P R 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-0750
The Issue The issue to be resolved is whether Petitioner is entitled to additional credit for her response to question nos. 122 and 222 of the civil engineering examination administered on October 31, 1997.
Findings Of Fact On October 31, 1997, Petitioner took the civil professional engineering licensing examination. A score of 70 is required to pass the test. Petitioner obtained a score of 69. Petitioner challenged the scoring of question nos. 122 and 222. As part of the examination challenge process, Petitioner's examination was returned to the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying where it was re-scored. In the re-score process, the grader deducted points from Petitioner's original score. Petitioner was given the same raw score of 6 on question number 122; however, on question number 222 her raw score of 4 was reduced to a 2. Petitioner needed a raw score of 48 in order to achieve a passing score of 70; she needed at least three additional raw score points to obtain a passing raw score of 48. Petitioner is entitled to a score of 6 on problem number 122. The solution and scoring plan for that problem required the candidate to obtain a culvert size in the range of 21-36 inches. The Petitioner incorrectly answered 3.1 feet or 37.2 inches. She is not entitled to additional credit for problem number 122 because she answered the question with the wrong size culvert. Problem number 122 required the candidate to use a predevelopment peak flow of 40 cubic feet per second (cfs). Petitioner used 58.33 cfs. She chose the maximum flow rather than the predevelopment peak flow. In solving problem number 122, Petitioner chose a design headwater depth of 4.8 feet. The correct solution required a design headwater depth of 5.7 feet. Petitioner made another mistake in problem number 122; she failed to check the water depth in the downstream swale. Petitioner concedes she was given sufficient information to solve problem number 122. She understood what the question was asking of her. She admits that she did not compute the critical depth of the water and that she did not complete the solution. Question number 222 had three parts. The candidate was required to determine the footing size, to select the reinforcing steel, and to provide a sketch for a concrete column located along the edge of a building. Petitioner understood the question and was provided enough information to solve the problem. Petitioner correctly checked the footing size as required by the first part; however, she did not select the reinforcing steel or show the required sketch. Therefore, Petitioner did not complete enough of the problem to qualify for a score of 4 points. She is entitled to a score of 2 points. The examination questions at issue here were properly designed to test the candidate's competency in solving typical problems in real life. The grader (re-scorer) utilized the scoring plan correctly. Petitioner has been in the United States for approximately eleven years. She lived in Romania before she came to the United States. In Romania, Petitioner used only the metric system in her professional work. While she has used the English system since moving to the United States, Petitioner is more familiar with the metric system. The Principles and Practice examination is an open-book examination. Petitioner took a book entitled the Fundamentals of Engineering Reference Handbook to the examination. When the proctor examined her books, she told the Petitioner she was not permitted to keep the handbook. The proctor took the handbook from the Petitioner. Petitioner protested the confiscation of her reference book because she had used the same book in two previous tests. About ten minutes later, the proctor's supervisor returned the book to Petitioner. Petitioner's book was returned at least ten minutes before the test began. She was permitted to use the book during the test. There is no persuasive evidence that the proctor's mistake in temporarily removing Petitioner's reference book caused her to be so upset that she failed the test. Candidates were not permitted to study their books prior to the beginning of the examination. Petitioner may have been nervous when the test began. However, Petitioner received a perfect score of ten points on the first problem she worked, problem number 121.
Recommendation Based upon the findings of fact and conclusions of law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Board of Professional Engineers enter a Final Order confirming Petitioner's score on the examination and dismissing the Petitioner's challenge. DONE AND ENTERED this 13th day of January, 1999, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. SUZANNE F. HOOD Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 13th day of January, 1999. COPIES FURNISHED: Natalie A. Lowe, Esquire Board of Professional Engineers 1208 Hays Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301 William Bruce Muench, Esquire 438 East Monroe Street Jacksonville, Florida 32202 Lynda L. Goodgame, General Counsel Department of Business and Professional Regulation 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0792 Dennis Bartin, President Florida Engineers Management Corporation 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0792
The Issue The issue in this proceeding is whether Michael Reggia meets the Florida licensure requirements for a professional engineer in the field of manufacturing engineering. The issue is specifically whether the practice and principles portion of the licensing exam was valid. Procedural Matters At the final hearing, Petitioner, Michael Reggia testified in his own behalf and presented the testimony of manufacturing engineer, Howard Bender. Petitioner's exhibits #1 and #2, letters from Martin Marietta Aerospace and Harris Corporation, were rejected as hearsay. Exhibit #3, selected pages from Fundamentals of Engineering, published by the National Council of Engineering Examiners, was admitted without objection. Respondent presented two witnesses: Cass Hurc, P.E. (by deposition, by agreement of the parties) and Allen Rex Smith, Executive Director of the Board of Professional Engineers. Respondent initially submitted four exhibits: #1 and #4 were admitted without objection, #2(a) and #2(b), were admitted over Petitioner's objection, and #3 was withdrawn. The parties requested and were given 20 days to submit post-hearing briefs and proposed orders. On September 15, 1986, Petitioner filed his arguments and summary of she testimony and evidence. Nothing was filed by Respondent.
Findings Of Fact Michael Reggia resides in Titusville and works at the Kennedy Space Center. He is licensed in the state of California as a professional engineer and has practiced in the field of manufacturing engineering. California, like Florida, does not license an individual in a particular discipline of engineering but requires that an individual select an area in which he or she will be tested. Mr. Reggia took the professional engineering license exam in Florida in October 1985. For part two of the examination, Professional Practice and Principles, he chose to be tested in his field of manufacturing engineering. He achieved a score of 64.4; in order to pass, a score of 70 is required. The examination given in Florida is a national examination produced by the National Council of Engineering Examiners (NCEE) for certification or licensure throughout the United States. The October 1985 exam was developed based upon an extensive survey study initiated by NCEE in 1979. A report of that study was published in March 1981 as "A Task Analysis of Licensed Engineers". (Respondent's exhibit #4) The primary purpose of the study was to aid NCEE in developing"... fair, meaningful, uniform, and objective standards with which to measure minimum competency for professional licensure." (exhibit #4, page E1) In drafting an exam the NCEE relies on the societies representing various engineering disciplines to submit examination problems for consideration. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers, through its professional registration committee, provides that service on behalf of the manufacturing engineers. The October 1985 examination for manufacturing engineers did not include questions relating to electrical engineering, which is Mr. Reggia's sub- area of emphasis in the area of manufacturing engineering. Since manufacturing engineering includes overlap into the basic engineering disciplines, Mr. Reggia contends the exam was one-sided and invalid as he felt it concentrated on tool designing and mechanical engineering. Some industries, particularly the aerospace industries now include a substantial number of electrical engineers on their staff. Engineering is an evolving discipline and manufacturing engineering has undergone changes with new technologies in recent years. One way of addressing the diversity and changes in the field is to provide a two-book exam that would offer the applicant a wider variety of problems from which he or she could select. This has been recommended to the NCEE by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Another approach, and the one utilized by the NCEE, is to conduct periodic surveys to determine the tasks which engineers are actually performing and the level of judgement required to perform the tasks effectively. It would be impossible, and perhaps inappropriate to develop an exam that would test each individual only on his or her particular expertise. In the area of manufacturing engineering the exams developed by NCEE are passed by 65- 75 percent of the candidates, a rate which is comparable to that of the mechanical engineers for their exam. Seven out of ten applicants passed the same exam which Mr. Reggia took in October 1985.
The Issue The issue presented is whether Mr. Lord should be granted additional credit for his answer to question number 144 on the April 1990 Professional Engineer licensure examination.
Findings Of Fact Mr. Lord (Candidate #301402) received a score of 66.3 percent on the April 20, 1991, Principals and Practice portion of the Professional Engineer examination. A minimum passing score was 70.0 percent. Mr. Lord challenged the scoring of his response to question number 144. Question number 144 is an essay question involving an assembly line problem where four separate stations are used to assemble a product in sequence. A fifth station can assist in maximizing the number of finished products produced per hour, and is capable of performing all operations. The correct answer to question number 144 was 100 products per hour, while Mr. Lord's answer was 25 pieces per hour. Petitioner received a score of 2 (out of a possible 10) points on question number 144. This was based on the scoring plan developed for the exam by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. Mr. Lord used a method of averaging station assembly times to determine the maximum average number of products each station could produce. The averaging method gave a solution which did not identify the central issue presented by the essay question: identifying and eliminating the bottlenecks in production. Mr. Lord also made an assumption that the initial four stations could do all operations, thus defining the model inaccurately. This misreading allowed Mr. Lord to use an averaging methodology. Mr. Granata, the Department's expert, testified that it is a coincidence of the numbers that if you multiply Respondent's answer (25) by four (the initial number of machines) you get the Board's answer (100). Mr. Greenbaum, Petitioner's expert witness, testified that Petitioner's answer is "unique" and that he, as an expert, would have answered the question using a methodology similar to the one developed by the Department's expert, Mr. Granata, and by the NCEE (National Council of Examiners for Engineering).
Recommendation Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is recommended that the challenge to the grading of Mr. Lord's response to question 144 on the April 1990 Professional Engineer licensure examination be dismissed. RECOMMENDED this 14th day of March, 1991, at Tallahassee, Florida. WILLIAM R. DORSEY, JR. Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1550 (904) 488-9675 Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 14th day of March, 1991. COPIES FURNISHED: William F. Whitson, Law Clerk Department of Professional Regulation 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0792 Curtis Lord 1416A Old Lystra Road Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Rex Smith, Executive Director Department of Professional Regulation Board of Professional Engineers 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0792 Jack McRay, General Counsel Department of Professional Regulation 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0792
