Ethical principles are stated in codes of ethics. Codes of ethics attempt to address professional behaviors that are consistent with (or, by contrast, that violate) moral principles that are broadly accepted in a society and that may also be enforced by public policy. However, professional ethics goes beyond such codes of ethics: Although formal standards are critical benchmarks, they are no substitute for deliberate and conscious ethical judgment. As a result, ethical judgment is about right and wrong beyond the law and more than blind adherence to a standard. This entry discusses ethical issues in testing and describes ethics’ codes and guidelines that address testing.

Testing can have important consequences for individuals, groups, and organizations. Tests provide data used to describe and explain past and current ...