Findings of this work indicate that the Correctional Personnel Rating Scale (CPRS) is an effective, comprehensive tool for assessing correctional officers’ job performance. An exploratory factor analysis identified four factors that reliably assessed desirable work behaviors, undesirable work behaviors, emotional control, and inmate relations. It was noted that correctional officer performance appraisals often neglected to target important job behaviors, particularly those involving ineffective as well as effective work behaviors, and interactions with other staff and inmates. The Correctional Personnel Rating Scale was designed to capture these behaviors as well as traditional routine task-related behaviors. The method involved obtaining 2 supervisory performance ratings, using the CPRS, for each correctional officer in a sample of 742 from 17 statewide institutional facilities, and conducting a factor analysis. Five focus groups were conducted to verify that the officers performed the CPRS behaviors, with a total of 34 participants. The officers and supervisors completing the survey instrument closely approximated the percentages of race and gender in the general population of correctional officers employed by the unidentified State. Tables, references