The changing world of mental measurement and its social significance

Discusses the impact of educational reform and other pressures within american society on the use of objective tests of mental ability. Some alternatives to the dilemmas growing out of criticism of mental tests are detailed. These include curriculum changes, automated individualized instruction, and computer-assisted branched testing. Another departure from standardized normative testing involves the development of a system of social indicators to measure changes in many aspects of society. A final area of change involves the increased respect for social, cultural, and linguistic variability among different kinds of people, E.g., blacks, chicanos, and american indians. (18 ref.)