The New Definitions of Test Fairness in Selection: Developments and Implications

Abstract

ABSTRACT Complexities of fairness are described it, nontechnical language, and their implications for the selection procedures practiced in our society are discussed. Four clearly distinguishable models of Selection are presented: the Cleary, or traditional, model; the Cole model; the Thorndike model; and the Darlington model. A distinction is made between the use of tests in a manner which is fair , and the concept of test bias, which most frequently refers to the content of the items of the test, regardless of any particular use to which the is being put. It i$ possible to conceive of a biased being used in a manner, and also possible to imagine an unbiased being used unfairly. This discussion concerns the use, rather than the content, of tests.