Legal and Ethical Standards Flashcards

A certification organization fails to notify candidates of a data breach exposing their personal information collected during CBT registration. In states with breach notification laws, this failure is:

Answer: A legal violation that can result in regulatory fines and civil liability

Most U.S. state breach notification laws impose mandatory, time-bound notification requirements; failure to comply exposes organizations to regulatory enforcement and civil lawsuits.

An employer requires all job applicants to take a cognitive ability test delivered via CBT. Adverse impact analysis reveals the test screens out a protected class at a significantly higher rate. Under federal employment law, the employer must:

Answer: Demonstrate the test is job-related and consistent with business necessity

Under the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, employers must demonstrate validity—job-relatedness and business necessity—to defend a selection procedure that produces adverse impact.

A remote proctoring service uses artificial intelligence to flag candidates based on eye movements as 'suspicious.' A candidate is disqualified solely on this AI determination without human review. This process most clearly violates which principle?

Answer: Procedural due process and fairness

Disqualifying a candidate based solely on an automated AI determination without human review violates procedural due process and fundamental fairness principles in high-stakes testing.

A testing organization's score report includes a candidate's full Social Security Number. Under privacy best practices and laws such as applicable state SSN protection statutes, this practice is:

Answer: A privacy risk that violates many state SSN protection laws and should be avoided

Many states have enacted laws specifically restricting the display and transmission of Social Security Numbers; including a full SSN on score reports creates unnecessary exposure and legal liability.

A proctor observes a candidate using an unauthorized Bluetooth earpiece during a CBT exam but does nothing because the candidate is a high-profile professional. The proctor's inaction is best characterized as:

Answer: An ethical failure that compromises exam integrity and fairness to all candidates

Selective enforcement based on a candidate's status undermines the fairness and integrity of the exam, constituting a serious ethical violation of the proctor's duty.

Under the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, which of the following responsibilities falls on the organization that develops and administers a computerized certification exam?

Answer: Providing evidence of validity, reliability, and fairness for the exam

The Standards require test developers to gather and document evidence supporting the validity, reliability, and fairness of their assessments for the intended uses and populations.

A certification body plans to use exam response data to train a commercial AI product without candidate knowledge or consent. This practice most directly raises concerns under which area of law?

Answer: Privacy law and breach of the original data use agreement

Using candidate data for purposes beyond what was disclosed at collection violates privacy law's purpose limitation principle and likely breaches the original terms candidates agreed to.