Presents a report, written in response to a manifesto by the Black Psychological Association asking for a moratorium on the use of psychological tests with students from disadvantaged backgrounds, which attempts to clarify the nature of psychometric tests, their uses, and their abuses, and propose some alternatives for standardized assessments. Possible causes for Blacks' lower performances on verbal and nonverbal intelligence tests are considered in relation to social attitudes. It is noted that test use makes no causal assumptions about the effects of heredity or environment. Other topics in the report include (a) a comprehensive definition of abilities, particularly general intelligence; (b) some common classes of misuse and misinterpretation; (c) an account of the kinds of statistical information needed to use a test effectively; and (d) a discussion of existing alternatives to ability tests. The need for more diagnostic and mastery tests, tests which measure important qualities other than intelligence, more regression comparisons and normative data, and more adequate studies of moderator variables is examined. (34 ref)

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I HAVE been asked to discuss the &dquo;College Admissions Squeeze,&dquo; a subject much favored for attention by the press during the past several years. The consequence of so much public notice has been general alarm, considerable pressure upon schools to diverge from their usual practices, and innumerable meetings of school boards, college trustees, guidance counselors, administrators, and even occasionally of faculties in both schools and college. We are having a perfect rash of talent searchesmost of which find talent that was never lost-and we have even had &dquo;guidance&dquo; prominently connected with national defense in Federal legislation.Two assumptions are now fashionable: (1) that many students cannot get into college; and (2) either the secondary schools are not &dquo;pre-paring&dquo; students properly, or college admissions officers are venal. A corollary, which I will not discuss, states that (therefore) the Russians are about to get us.The first assumption-that significant numbers of students are barred, or soon will be barred, from college-deserves comment only because it is so widely believed. I have a standard offer which I repeat here: If there are not financial problems, I will undertake to place in an accredited four-year college any student who holds a high-school diploma and