Linda C. Wing and Bernard R. Gifford How should a society committed to the ideas of individual merit, equal opportunity, and the free marketplace allocate scarce educational and employment opportunities? How can that society draw distinctions fairly and justifiably-among people competing against each other for the same opportunity? These are among the central questions of a democracy. How a society answers them reveals a great deal about its values and its priorities, and determines a great deal about its future course. In recent decades, we have placed the standardized pencil-and-paper test at the center of these fundamental questions about the nature of opportunity allocation in American life. In more and more areas of our lives-schools, employment, the military-we rely upon the standardized test to rank or classify people, and to assure ourselves that we have done so fairly. The papers gathered here were prepared at the invitation of the National Commission on Testing and Public Policy. (The editors of this volume were involved in the commission from its inception in 1987 until shortly after the publication of its major public report in 1990-Bernard Gifford as Chair and Linda Wing as Associate Director. 1) Each chapter focuses on an aspect of employment testing-a topic that could hardly 1 POLICY ISSUES IN EMPLOYMENT TESTING 2 be more in need of calm deliberation and reasoned discussion than it is today.

Addresses the meaning and fairness of testing in education and employment with concentration on tests used: in elementary and secondary schools; for admission to higher education and for scholarship awards; for employment referrals, hiring and promotions; and for regulating occupations. Contains a background paper on key issues, a condensed transcript of the consultation of experts, papers written by the panelists, and a summary of their positions. Includes a glossary, references, appendixes of Federal guidelines and standards, and major legislation and litigation involving testing.

Organized in three sections, the first includes a historical perspective on the growth of evaluation theory and practice; the second section includes articles on the major schools of thought about evaluation; the final section describes and discusses the standards for program evaluation.

Vols. 1- include Proceedings of the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries.