Daniel H. Robinson

How can admissions officers, employers, and scholarship committees maximize the accuracy of prediction of individual performance while minimizing adverse impact due to group differences? Testing offers a straightforward solution to the first half of this problem. Tests are the best way to predict how someone will perform in school, in the military, in medicine, or while controlling airline traffic and flying a plane. Tests are also useful beyond personnel selection, such as for selection of a college major or courses. However, the other side of this problem is more complex. Using tests is always accompanied by group differences that could result in continued systemic discrimination by limiting opportunities for those who are marginalized. This book charts an approach to using tests that incorporates evidence, transparency, and societal values to maximize efficiency and fairness.

How can admissions officers, employers, and scholarship committees maximize the accuracy of prediction of individual performance while minimizing adverse impact due to group differences? Testing offers a straightforward solution to the first half of this problem. Tests are the best way to predict how someone will perform in school, in the military, in medicine, or while controlling airline traffic and flying a plane. Tests are also useful beyond personnel selection, such as for selection of a college major or courses. However, the other side of this problem is more complex. Using tests is always accompanied by group differences that could result in continued systemic discrimination by limiting opportunities for those who are marginalized. This book charts an approach to using tests that incorporates evidence, transparency, and societal values to maximize efficiency and fairness.

This book is intended to be sort of a Chicken Soup for the educational academic’s soul. But, in the spirit of the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), this book is more of a Bloody Mary for the AERA attendee’s soul. As you likely know, one of the many suggested cures for a hangover is a Bloody Mary (it may not cure the hangover and could make it worse – but it seems like a good idea). The AERA conference experience for the uninformed amateur is similar to a hangover – symptoms may include confusion, nausea, headache, fatigue, etc., but without the alcohol. This book has two goals. One is to help you to get more out of the annual experience most of us refer to simply as “AERA,” and less of the negative experiences. The second is to help the beginning academic to avoid the pitfalls the author has experienced and hopefully be more successful. To do this, chapters go back and forth between telling an academic story and providing academic advice.

This book is intended to be sort of a Chicken Soup for the educational academic’s soul. But, in the spirit of the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), this book is more of a Bloody Mary for the AERA attendee’s soul. As you likely know, one of the many suggested cures for a hangover is a Bloody Mary (it may not cure the hangover and could make it worse – but it seems like a good idea). The AERA conference experience for the uninformed amateur is similar to a hangover – symptoms may include confusion, nausea, headache, fatigue, etc., but without the alcohol. This book has two goals. One is to help you to get more out of the annual experience most of us refer to simply as “AERA,” and less of the negative experiences. The second is to help the beginning academic to avoid the pitfalls the author has experienced and hopefully be more successful. To do this, chapters go back and forth between telling an academic story and providing academic advice.