This book addresses some of the important considerations surrounding the use of tests and assessment procedures when applied to students who are culturally, linguistically, and/or socioeconomically different from mainstream North Americans. Chapter 1 introduces the problems of using standards based on a white Anglo-Saxon perspective to assess and educate culturally different students. Chapter 2, "Multiculturalism: Perspectives and Challenges" (R. J. Samuda), examines key issues in a global and historical context. Chapter 3, "The New Challenge of Student Assessment and Placement" (R. J. Samuda), discusses the need for reform. Chapter 4, "Psychometric Factors in the Appraisal of Intelligence" (R. J. Samuda), examines test reliability and validity. Chapter 5, "Nature Versus Nurture" (R. J. Samuda), examines foundations of the assessment issue. Chapter 6, "Understanding and Coping with Individual Differences" (S. L. Kong), discusses varieties of individual differences. Chapter 7, "Institutionalized Racism and the Assessment of Minority Children: A Comparison of Policies & Programs in the United States & Canada" (J. Cummins), delineates how assessment procedures support institutional racism. Chapter 8, "Student Assessment and Placement in Ontario Schools" (R. J. Samuda), reports on a study of student placement. Chapter 9, "Innovative Approaches in Assessment" (J. Lewis), surveys alternative test procedures. Chapter 10, "Mental Capacity Testing as a Form of Intellectual-Developmental Assessment" (J. Pascual-Leone and H. Ijaz), discusses capacity testing. Chapter 11,"Towards Nondiscriminatory Assessment: Principles and Application" (R. J. Samuda), summarizes a school board's attempts to create a non-biased testing policy. A list of 327 references and an index are appended. (FMW)