Setting Performance Standards: Concepts, Methods and Perspectives, edited by Gregory J. Cizek, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This book is a collection of chapters by "… the most exceptionally qualified authorities in the field of standard setting." Each chapter attempts to describe "…a standard-setting method, perspective, or issue in a way that would be useful to readers with diverse backgrounds and interests(.)" including "..policymakers, researchers, applied psychometricians, board members, graduate students, legislators, even the public- to acquire valuable skills and insights into this fascinating field." Published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1-800-926-6579 email orders@erlbaum.com

Two publications have been received from the California Workforce Initiative (http://futurehealth.ucsf.edu/cwi.html), Center for the Health Professions, University of California, San Francisco. The first is Diversifying the Nursing Workforce: A California Imperative that "presents the barriers that continue to impede diversity within California's nursing profession, and provides recommendations for immediate steps and long term solutions to this problem." The second report, The Practice of Medicine in California: A Profile of the Physician Workforce, "…examines the state of medical practice in California, including trends in practice setting, physician organization, managed care involvement, Medi-Cal participation, financial incentives, earnings, and physician's overall experience of the practice climate in California."

Both reports may be downloaded at http://futurehealth.ucsf.edu/publications/index.html

• approved the establishment of the Central Agency Committee

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