Nine papers were presented at the 1986 Educational Testing Service Invitational Conference on outcomes assessment in higher education. The Award for Distinguished Service to Measurement was awarded to Frederic Kuder for development of the Kuder-Richardson 20 and KR-21 formulas for test reliability, the Kuder Preference Record, and the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey. The papers included a discussion of the goals and realities of American higher education (W. Ann Reynolds); the college's perspective of assessment (John W. Chandler); the state's perspective (Eleanor M. McMahon); and the accrediting association's perspective (Thurston E. Manning). Discussions also focused on critical validity issues in college assessment (Eva L. Baker); the case for unobtrusive measures (Patrick T. Terenzini); use of assessment to improve instruction (K. Patricia Cross); and value-added student assessment (Ernest T. Pascarella). In addition, Russell Edgerton presented a critical history of assessment in the form of a play. (GDC)