In societies following a meritocratic ideal, educational certificates and examinations play a key role in allocating life chances to individuals. Procedures for allocating life chances need to be perceived as fair by those concerned if examinations and certificates are to possess legitimacy. This article traces and compares basic conceptions of…

The North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program was established to provide student, school, and school system information about achievement in high school courses. It appears that more than 40 percent of a class of students and approximately 60 percent of Algebra I students take Algebra II. Each Algebra II student took a test containing one of…

This study examined the psychometric characteristics of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) administered under special conditions for nine handicapped groups. Four psychometric characteristics were studied: level of test performance, test reliability, speededness, and extent of unexpected differential item performance. Psychometric comparisons were…

A project continued activity to improve the occupational competency assessment program for evaluating and certifying vocational education teachers. Development of new testing was continued by Temple University, The Pennsylvania State University, and University of Pittsburgh. Workshops for test developers were conducted to ensure standardization of…