[en] The field work included interviews with operator licensing examiners, utility trainers, candidates, and plant management; interviews and discussions with professional; content analysis of the written portion of 24 control room operator examinations; observation of the conduct of examinations in plants; analysis of data obtained from NRC; and literature searches and reviews. The report includes chapters containing findings from a content analysis of 24 examinations, technical discussions of the concepts of validity and reliability, and the application of these concepts to the control room operator examination. Other chapters discuss the need to develop operator performance measures and the problems associated with this need including problems of influence of performance-shaping factors on control room operator performance. The last half of the report focuses on what could and should be done in the future. The report argues that any new examination must be based on a task analysis, most probably the INPO task analysis. It is also argued that attempts should be made to incorporate methods for measuring operators' problem solving ability in ill-defined situations. Further, it is pointed out that the NRC needs to clarify whether the licensing examination is to be a test of minimal competence or a mastery test, whether the examination system is to also serve the selection function, and whether separate licensing tests are needed for RO's and SRO's. The last chapter presents a model for a new licensing process