This conference was organized around four policy concerns: (1) the needs of handicapped, gifted, and bilingual students; (2) the use of test results to allocate federal compensatory education funds; (3) the validity of minimum competency testing; and (4) the demand for increasingly sophisticated evaluations. Garry L. McDaniels discussed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act; James J. Gallagher presented issues on the identification and education of gifted children; and Maria Medina Swanson described progress made in bilingual education since the Bilingual Education Act and the Lau v Nichols court decision. Joel S. Berke introduced the topic of funding allocations; Fred E. Burke presented New Jersey's rationale for combining test scores and socioeconomic status, as an index for compensatory program funding; and George F. Madaus supported the use of statewide norm-referenced achievement tests. Mark R. Shedd and R. Robert Rentz described minimum competency testing programs in Connecticut high schools and in the Georgia state colleges, respectively. Finally, Peter H. Rossi stressed the need for recognizing when not to evaluate, the difference between pilot and full-scale programs, and complications in calculating cost-effectiveness; and John Ellis illustrated how evaluations have influenced congressional appropriations. The 1978 Educational Testing Service measurement award was presented to John C. Flanagan. (CP)