The Educational Testing Service wanted to upgrade the skills of its proofreading staff. They asked the Business Writing Center to develop a test of proofreading skills using samples of writing such as those they would actually be proofreading. The Center would then train the staff and evaluate them again at the end of the training.

The Educational Testing Service wanted a testing instrument that would

1. use samples of the type of writing they would be proofreading
2. have proofreading errors divided into paragraphs so trainee competence could be diagnosed more easily
3. include some indicator of proficiency so trainees could be evaluated at the beginning and show improvement as they went through the course
4. be available before the training to be used as a pre-test and then after training to be used as a post-test

The Business Writing Center developed a training design that

1. divided the possible proofreading errors into categories and presented them in single paragraphs
2. included five levels of proficiency so trainees could be diagnosed in one level and show improvement by rising through the levels as they went through the course
3. was made available before the training to be used as a pre-test and will be used after training as a post-test