Proceedings are presented of the 1979 meeting of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, which includes speeches on outcomes assessment along with the business meeting of the Association. In the keynote address, "Outcomes Assessment--A New Era in Accreditation," Howard R. Bowen identifies goals an educational institution would likely try to achieve: cognitive development of students; aesthetic sensibility; emotional and moral development; practical competence in citizenship, work, and family life; and direct satisfactions and enjoyment from education during the school and college years as well as in later life. He suggests principles that might be followed in the identification and evaluation of outcomes, including: assessment could be linked to all the major goals of education and not confined to those that are easily testable or that relate to finances; outcomes assessment should be based on the study of alumni as well as students; and an outcomes assessment could be concerned with change in students as a result of their educational experience. Additional speeches are as follows: "From the Depression to the Revolution" (Abraham H. Lass); "Testing the Test--A New Era in Assessment" (George H. Hanford); and "Assembly of Elementary Schools" (Barbara R. Frey). Additional contents include the following: reports of the officers and commissions of the association; the charter and by-laws of the association; the program of the meeting; and a list of the officers, board of trustees, commission members, honorary members, committees, and delegates. (SW)