Research heritage
PAES holds a rare position: the assessment itself is peer reviewed, and for more than 35 years it has been tested and refined by the educators who run it, job by job, in real classrooms.
The founding research
In 1998, Dr. Judith Swisher's doctoral dissertation at the University of Kansas formally validated the PAES Lab. That dissertation was the academic anchor for everything that followed. It examined whether the structured performance-based approach did what it claimed: produce reliable, defensible data on vocational aptitude and work behavior for students with diverse needs.
The answer was yes. The dissertation became the foundation for the decades of continued research and refinement that followed.
Instrument-level peer review
Continuous field refinement
Peer review set the baseline. Everything since has been iterative refinement driven by supervisors in the field.
1989
PAES begins as a performance-based assessment business
1998
Dr. Swisher's doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas, validates the PAES lab.
1998
Peer-reviewed publication in Educational Assessment, with a companion paper at AERA
2000
US expansion, Pre-ETS alignment, Perkins integration, program refinement.
Recent
Digital scoring via the PAES Scan Lab Management System, international footprint (live UK contract, plus Canada and Northern Mariana Islands)
2026
Customer Impact Survey (n=307), Lighthouse UK case study.
Working with academics
We actively collaborate with academic researchers, doctoral students, and research-active supervisors. If you are evaluating PAES for a research study, a meta-analysis, or a doctoral thesis, we provide:
The 2026 customer impact survey
In early 2026 we surveyed more than 300 active PAES educators across the US, UK, Canada, and Northern Mariana Islands. The survey was designed to test whether the instrument still does what it is supposed to do, in the hands of the people who use it most.
Overall:
82%
rate PAES positive overall
79%
rate the credibility of PAES data as high
74%
trust PAES data for high-stakes decisions
75%
say PAES reduces subjectivity in decisions about students
76%
rate PAES reporting as useful for planning and decisions
73%
rate PAES as practical within their daily setting
Strengths and engagement:
81%
say PAES reveals strengths traditional assessment misses
90%
report improved student motivation
90%
report improved on-task behavior
90%
report students following directions more reliably
89%
report improved problem-solving
89%
report improved adherence to rules and safety practices
Transition readiness:
86%
report students show increased transition readiness
77%
report strong administrator support for PAES
+0.3–0.7
point lift on impact items at recently trained sites vs. untrained