This paper analyzes research findings about the role of values and beliefs in aptitude testing. Indications are found that the ongoing controversy over the lack of ethnic, racial, and sex fairness in aptitude testing is rooted in the tests themselves. Test designers, it is argued, are influenced by their socioeconomic position (they are usually…

While some forms of test bias (for example, bias in selection and prediction) appear amenable to definitional consensus, a definition of cultural bias will remain problematic so long as it is confused with the nature/nurture issue. (Author/BW)

The theory of culturally biased test scores is discussed, in terms of both the Bakke case and the theory's broader societal implications. Literature addressing the problem of test bias is reviewed. Remedies for predictive invalidity are proposed. The importance of thorough documentation in court litigation concerning this issue is stressed.…

Although by traditional measures of test validity, the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is not culture biased, it, along with the English Composition Test and the Test of Standard Written English, reinforces a narrow view of academic excellence that excludes culturally different youths. Designed to prevent admission errors, the…