Much of the language and many constructs used in testing and assessment must be redefined in order for testing instruments to be valid for use with children of African-American descent. These children are products of unique linguistic environments. Current educational assessment tools are insensitive to the cultural-linguistic diversity of the…

A study was undertaken to determine if the removal of black English dialect as oral reading errors would influence the scores obtained on three oral reading diagnostic tests: the Gray Oral Reading Test, the Gilmore Oral Reading Test, and the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scales. In addition, the study investigated whether there were differences in the…

The importance of developing culturally specific tests for black children is addressed, along with the overall issue of whether a criterion used to discriminate among groups is valid for the population for which it is used. In addition, a brief historical review illustrates accessibility to full participation of citizens and noncitizens of early…

It is well documented that there continues to be a gap between white and nonwhite student achievement. A study develops and tests a measure of white-nonwhite achievement gap reduction. The ultimate purpose is to use the measure as the dependent variable in a qualitative study of what works in reducing the gap. The strategy used in addressing this…

Findings from a study that explored differences in the definition and operationalization of leadership between mainstream and disadvantaged groups are presented in this paper. The "fuzzy concept operationalization method" was used to define leadership traits in two groups of leaders participating in two different leadership training workshops: 12…

The reliability and validity of the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB), a measure designed to tap behaviors pertaining to the provision of social support, were studied. Data were analyzed on a pre-test sample of 100 adults from a community-based, epidemiologic study of 1,008 black adults in Virginia. Findings are presented on the…

Inasmuch as blacks and other ethnic minorities have not been included in normative studies of most neuropsychological tests, the validity of these measures with these populations is questionable. The present study examined the suitability of selected neuropsychological test norms with 100 "normal" (Mean Wechsler Intelligence Scale for…

The author discusses the state of the art in assessment of African American children with possible handicaps. He asserts that changes must be made regarding the goal of assessment, the role of the assessors, the process of assessment, the criterion for validity, and the preparation of assessors. He further suggests that the problem with testing is…

The convergent and discriminant validity of a wide range of cognitive and social competence measures were investigated with 400 students (7-11) stratified by race (white and black) and educational placement (regular and special education for mildly handicapped students). The majority of special education students were classified as learning…

These two related papers provide information on teacher attitudes toward black dialect use in the classroom and the measurement of such attitudes. The first paper reports on data from 176 administrators, counselors, teachers, and student teachers, revealing significant relationships between a teacher's definition of black dialect, attitudes toward…

A longitudinal study was conducted to assess (1) the validity of the Denver Prescreening Developmental Questionnaire (DPDQ) in a predominantly black, lower socioeconomic population, and (2) the effect of an educational package in increasing parental accuracy in responses to the DPDQ. Randomly selected mothers of 127 infants enrolled in a follow-up…

During the last 10-15 years, there has been a burgeoning interest in ethnicity as a variable in research on objective personality assessment, particularly with respect to black-white differences. Racial differences in responses to items on the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) were investigated to identify nonpathological differences…

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score differences were examined for Black and White examinees who entered American medical schools in 1978 and 1979. The incidence of academic difficulty resulting in delayed graduation, withdrawal, or dismissal was also examined. The MCAT provides six scores: biology, chemistry, physics, science problems,…

Although the criterion problem has been acknowledged as critical in personnel research, few attempts have been made to systematically examine the nature and covariates of criterion measures of performance. The present research used meta-analytic techniques to examine the race effect size for objective measures of performance and to compare the…

The potential usefulness of self-assessment of low-level aptitudes, such as basic or elementary reading, writing, and calculating, was explored in a test validation context, following the model of B. Davey (1980, 1990). Self-assessments were sought to provide criterion-related or construct validities that might otherwise be unobtainable for some…