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…

Recent harsh criticisms that educational and psychological tests are unfair and inadequate measures of the capabilities of minority, poverty, and other educationally alienated groups are discussed. The authors suggest that there are two main issues, the first scientific, the second ethical: (1) Is a test a valid measure of the characteristics it…

This paper presents preliminary results regarding the predictive validity of learning potential tests administered in an exploratory study in Rotterdam (Holland) concerning the referral of minority students to special education. The central question of the study was why some students of Surinamese, Turkish, and Moroccan origin were placed in…

This study was undertaken to shed light on problems concerning the construction and use of a common test battery for various South African population groups. Specifically, the psychometric suitability for use with Indian and Black pupils, of the Junior Aptitude Tests (JAT), which were standardized for White pupils in Standard 7 was studied. The…

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…

Numerous strategies have been used throughout the years to test cultural groups. This paper grew out of the need to find and use standardized tests that would depict accurately the performance of various cultural groups in America. In order to make judgments about performance, it is wise to examine the theoretical structure from which most of the…