So near and yet so far - Lingering questions about the use of measures of general intelligence for college admission and employment screening

The evidentiary bases for the various positions taken by the authors of articles in the March 2000 special theme issue of Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, are examined. Despite some substantive disagreements among the authors, a substrate of evidence is accepted (or, at the very least, goes unchallenged) by all authors. Although the substantial progress made by psychometric researchers is acknowledged, there remains a critical need to probe ever more deeply into the nature of intelligence and the meaning of correlations between ability tests and performance at school and at work. The author concludes by arguing that the concept of general intelligence may have considerable predictive usefulness whenever the situation calls for making a limited number of choices among many applicants but that there are lingering conceptual limitations about its meaning.