The training of psychotherapists has been an ongoing process in psychiatry and clinical psychology. Recently, however, a growing demand to operationalize competence criteria to enable independent evaluation of therapists' skills in specifically defined psychotherapies has occurred. To examine this phenomenon, evaluation procedures were developed and tested during a pilot training program in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT). Several different instruments and procedures were used to monitor the therapist trainees' skills on a variety of dimensions. The Didactic Examination was designed to assess therapist trainees' cognitive understanding of the theoretical background, rationale, techniques and procedures of short-term IPT; other instruments were developed to assess the therapist trainees' practical IPT skills in therapy sessions. Results of analyses of the trainee outcome data confirmed the decision to rely on multiple information and derived composite scores. Although scores on Didactic Examinations showed significant improvement at post-testing, the written examination had little predictive validity for determining the competence of the therapist to perform IPT during practicum. Findings of a lack of agreement between supervisor and independent evaluator perceptions of the therapist underscore the importance of including videotape reviews of actual therapy sessions as part of therapist assessments. (Author/NRB)