Teacher rating scales (TRS) are often used to make service eligibility decisions for exceptional learners. Although TRS are regularly used to identify student exceptionalism either as part of an informal nomination process or through behavioral rating scales, there is little research documenting the between-teacher variance in teacher ratings or…

Teacher-report is commonly used to assess executive functions (EFs) in schools, but teachers' perceptions of EF skills may be biased by students' demographic characteristics. In this short-term longitudinal study, we assessed whether students' gender, ethnicity, and English language learner (ELL) status predicted teachers' reports of students'…

On the basis of several reviews of the literature, Lynn [Lynn, R., (2006). Race differences in intelligence: An evolutionary analysis. Augusta, GA: Washington Summit Publishers.] and Lynn and Vanhanen [Lynn, R., & Vanhanen, T., (2006). IQ and global inequality. Augusta, GA: Washington Summit Publishers.] concluded that the average IQ of the…

Reading level expectancies exerted "a powerful influence upon the scoring process. (Author/AP)

Using the Guide to the Assessment of Test-Session Behavior for the WISC-III and WIAT (GATSB), observations were recorded for 969 children between the ages of 6 and 16 years. Children who exhibited higher levels of avoidance, inattentiveness and uncooperative behaviors while being tested tended to exhibit lower WISC-III scores. (RJM)

In this study only bias in scoring, controlling for the effect of actual administration, was investigated. Results indicated that scoring the WISC was biased by scorers' expectations, and that the bias effect exists independent of actual administration of the test. (Author)

Experimenter bias effects were experimentally manipulated in a sample of 97 school psychologists scoring 3 subscales (Similarity, Vocabulary, and Comprehension) of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III). First year (n=29), interns (n=42), and experienced (n=26) psychologists were randomly assigned to either a bias or…

The assessment of hearing impaired children is fraught with a number of problems. These include lack of valid assessment measures, faulty theoretical assumptions, lack of knowledge regarding the functioning of cognitive processes of these children, and biases against these children. This article briefly considers these issues and describes a study…

A research study is reported which investigated the influence of the variables of race (examiner and child race) and expectancy (high and low) upon the scoring of individual IQ tests. Video tapes of two children (one black, one white, 10 years old, in the 85 to 95 IQ range) being administered the Wischler Intelligence Scale for Children were shown…