Judith D. Swisher, Ph.D.
Judith D. Swisher, Ph.D., is the author of the Practical Assessment Exploration System. She holds a Ph.D. in Special Education and Statistics from the University of Kansas (1997), an M.S. in Adult and Occupational Education from Kansas State University and a B.S. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from the University of Kansas.
She spent 26 years with Shawnee Mission Schools as Transition Specialist and District Career Vocational Evaluator (1980 to 2006), and ten years as an Education Consultant and PAES Teacher Trainer with the Los Angeles Unified School District (2006 to 2016). She has taught in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas and consulted for its Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation.
Her research on PAES includes a predictive validity study published in Educational Assessment (1998), a doctoral dissertation on its conceptual framework and initial validity studies (1997), and the PAES Technical Manual (2000). She has presented on curriculum-based vocational assessment at national and state conferences since 1981, consulted for more than 25 school districts and cooperatives across Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and California, and served as President of the Kansas Association of Vocational Special Needs Personnel. She serves on the board of Dreams Work, Inc. in Shawnee, Kansas.