Summary of the Fall 1979 Conference of the National Consortium on Testing; November 5-6, 1979.

Remarks made at the conference are summarized in seven sections of this narrative report: (1) update: recent events concerning testing,--representing the viewpoints of school districts, professional associations, government agencies, and research organizations; (2) National Institute of Education (NIE) study of school districts' use of test and evaluation information (Mary Ann Millsap); (3) Florida minimum competency testing case: Debra P. versus Turlington (Diana Pullin and George Madaus); (4) relationship between testing and curriculum (a panel: Joel Weiss, Decker Walker, Ann Cook, Andrew Porter, and Amity Buxton); (5) recent legislation to regulate testing (Walt Haney, Rex Brown); (6) test coaching controversy and the Federal Trade Commission report (Walt Haney); and (7) summary and discussion (Walt Haney, Eugene Radwin, and Vito Perrone). The appendices include the Speech Communication Association's criteria for evaluating tests and assessment guidelines; "The Essentials of Education," a statement from 12 organizations; a description of the Math/Science network; Banesh Hoffman's criticism of mathematics test items; a summary of the court decision, Larry P. versus Riles; a description of the NIE study and of further grants; sample materials from a school district's program; and a description of the impact of New York state's La Valle bill. (GDC)