Couched within a larger critique of assessment practices and how they are used to stigmatize African American children, the authors examine teachers' instructional practices in response to demands of increasing test scores. Many mathematics teachers might be unaware of how these test-driven instructional practices can simultaneously reflect…

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the use of explanatory models based on Rasch measurement theory to detect systematic relationships between student and item characteristics and achievement differences using differential item functioning (DIF), differential group functioning (DGF), and differential person functioning (DPF) techniques. The…

Though ubiquitous, Likert scaling's traditional mode of analysis is often unable to uncover all of the valid information in a data set. Here, the authors discuss a solution to this problem based on methodology developed by quantum physicists: the state multipole method. The authors demonstrate the relative ease and value of this method by…

With the increased focus on issues of diversity and multiculturalism in the United States and abroad, educators and clinicians have become more and more concerned about the feasibility and validity of their assessment instruments and practices for children and adults from nonWhite backgrounds. Many researchers emphasize that when working with…

The literature on item bias, i.e., the question of whether some items in tests favor one cultural group over another cultural group due to irrelevant factors, is reviewed and evaluated. All known references through 1981 are described including a large number of unpublished reports. Each method is described and the criticisms that have appeared in…

Considers racial impact of using ability tests for employment decisions. Notes agreement that large differences exist in performance on general ability among races and that there is probable relation between general ability and job performance for most jobs; disagreement about whether racial differences in general ability are fixed and about size…

The stability was evaluated of a partial correlation index, comparisons of item characteristic curves, and comparisions of item difficulties in assessing race and sex differences in the performance of verbal items on the Graduate Record Examination Aptitude Test. All three indexes exhibited consistency in identifying the same items in different…

Item response theory bias detection procedures were applied to data from Black and White seniors on the High School and Beyond data files. Overall, the sums-of-squares statistics (weighted by the inverse of the variance errors) were the best indices for quantifying item characteristic curve differences between groups (Author/BW)

A study investigated the effect of different diagnostic criteria on the identification of emotional or behavioral disorders in 3694 second-grade children. Results indicated the 13 different diagnostic combinations identified from 1.1% to 27.5% of the sample. Four of these combinations resulted in significant ethnic or gender bias. (Author/CR)

The aim of this study was to assess test takers' attitudes and beliefs about an admissions test used extensively in graduate schools of business in the United States, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), and the relationships of these attitudes and beliefs to test performance. A set of attitude and belief items was administered by…

This fact sheet lists problems involved in the use of standardized tests. It is argued that standardized tests are not really fair and helpful evaluation tools because they reward the ability to answer superficial questions quickly and do not measure the ability to think or create in any field. They also assume that all test takers have been…

Robert L. Thorndike was awarded the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Measurement Award at the 1972 ETS Invitational Conference. In "Heredity, Environment, and Class or Ethnic Differences," J. McV. Hunt addressed several fundamental questions pertaining to the hereditary and environmental influences of the observed social class and ethnic…