Policy Issues in Employment Testing


Book Description

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.




Test Policy and the Politics of Opportunity Allocation: The Workplace and the Law


Book Description

Bernard R. Gifford In the United States, the standardized test has become one of the major sources of information for reducing uncertainty in the determination of individual merit and in the allocation of merit-based educational, training, and employment opportunities. Most major institutions of higher education require applicants to supplement their records of academic achievements with scores on standardized tests. Similarly, in the workplace, as a condition of employment or assignment to training programs, more and more employers are requiring prospective employees to sit for standardized tests. In short, with increasing frequency and intensity, individual members of the political economy are required to transmit to the opportunity marketplace scores on standardized examinations that purport to be objective measures of their and potential. In many instances, these test scores are the abilities, talents, only signals about their skills that job applicants are permitted to send to prospective employers. THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TESTING AND PUBLIC POLICY In view of the importance of these issues to our current national agenda, it was proposed that the Human Rights and Governance and the Education and Culture Programs of the Ford Foundation support the establishment of a ''blue ribbon" National Commission on Testing and Public Policy to investigate some of the major problems as well as the untapped opportunities created by recent trends in the use of standardized tests, particularly in the workplace and in schools.







Changing Work, Changing Workers


Book Description

This glimpse into factories, hospitals, other work settings, and work-related literacy programs, shows the massive changes in expectations for workers' "skills" in the twenty-first century, especially regarding language and literacy.




Workplace Drug Abuse and AIDS


Book Description

Throughout the 1980s, the issue of substance abuse testing became increasingly important to employers. And now the growing problem of AIDS and its impact on the workplace provides a related area of concern. In this work, Donald Klingner tells human resource professionals what they need to know about both these topics. The book carefully details the effects these problems have on employers, and provides specific recommendations for human resource management policy and practice which can reduce the employer's costs and legal liability risks while preserving employee rights. Following a general introduction that lays the foundation for the discussion, the book is divided into two main sections. The first addresses the intricacies of substance abuse and testing, presenting six chapters that survey substance abuse in the workplace; substance abuse testing techniques; substance abuse testing and the law; personnel policies and practices; employee assistance programs; and working with employees and unions. The second section covers the issue of AIDS and AIDS testing through four chapters: AIDS in the workplace; AIDS testing techniques; AIDS testing and the law; and personnel policies and practices. A concluding chapter provides a summary of both areas. This work will be a valuable reference tool for public and private-sector managers--supervisors, managers, trainers and personnel specialists--responsible for developing or implementing substance abuse or AIDS policy and practice. Public, college and university libraries will also find it a timely addition to their collections.




Beyond Multiple Choice


Book Description

This volume provides in-depth coverage of a key piece of today's human resource selection technology--the viability of alternatives to paper and pencil multiple-choice selection tests. Each chapter of this edited volume presents an intensive examination of a key "alternative to multiple-choice testing." The content of the book's chapters ranges from reviews of issues associated with, and evidence available for, the use of particular selection text alternatives (computerized testing, performance assessments) to empirical investigation of other alternatives (biodata, creative skills); from examination of standards for choosing among selection tests to practitioners' and test takers' perspectives. This book is important for researchers and practitioners in the human resource selection field who have wanted a resource that provides a comprehensive examination of multiple-choice selection testing and its alternatives.




The Validity of Testing in Education and Employment


Book Description

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.




Adverse Impact


Book Description

This text is the best single repository for a comprehensive examination of the scientific research and practical issues associated with adverse impact. Adverse impact occurs when there is a significant difference in organizational outcomes to the disadvantage of one or more groups defined on the basis of demographic characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, etc. This book shows, based on scientific research, how to design selection systems that minimize subgroup differences. The primary object of this volume in the SIOP series is to bring together renowned experts in this field to present their viewpoints and perspectives on what underlies adverse impact, where we are in terms of assessing it and what we may have learned (or not learned) about minimizing it.