The authors suggest that efforts to comply with the protection in evaluation procedures provisions of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) have been characterized by attempts to identify a single fair test for use with specific groups of minority children, and that such efforts will not result in improved efforts to…

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…

In recent years, the controversy surrounding testing has grown, and the charge of bias is the most often cited criticism of testing and assessment. A review of the literature indicates that psychometricians and other researchers speak of bias as a property of the test or of items in the test. Conversely, test critics speak of bias as a quality or…

Several methods of assessing test item bias are described, and the concept of fair use of tests is examined. A test item is biased if individuals of equal ability have different probabilities of attaining the item correct. The following seven general procedures used to examine test items for bias are summarized and discussed: (1) analysis of…

This article presents views of proponents and opponents to standardized tests, isolates the major weakness of testing--questionable validity--and offers several recommendations for the betterment of test development and use. Some major misuses of tests include the following: (a) tests are at times administered with no clear purpose; (b) test…

Companies have been accused of using tests as a means of maintaining unfair discrimination against groups which have already suffered from many forms of discrimination. It does not follow, however, that tests themselves merit condemnation. Employers who use tests do so because the information furnished by tests is valuable to them in making hiring…

Deficiences in the field of psychological testing associated with the assessment of vocational aptitudes are considered. The rationale for a new approach designed to obviate these deficiences is given. A description of the procedures which provide for implementation of the new approach and the semi-automated Performance Assessment System (PAS) is…

Specially constructed "speeded" and "unspeeded" forms of a Reading Comprehension section of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) were administered to regular center and fee-free center LSAT candidates in an effort to determine: (1) if the test was more speeded for fee-free candidates, and (2) if reducing the amount of…

Difficulties in the organization and application of psychological testing for public school children can be discussed. (MB)

This article provides an overview of the "Golden Rule" issue, including a summary of legislative and judicial activity aimed at extending the "Golden Rule" idea, the opposition of professional associations to such proposals, and activity at the Educational Testing Service to take differential item functioning into account in…

Argues that the typical psychometric model of human intelligence is limited because the database fails to take account of the many manifestations of intelligent behavior that are displayed in the world outside the testing room. Suggests that cognitive processes are influenced by test situation or setting and examiner's level of expertise. (PS)

Much of the debate on testing over the last two decades has centered on issues of equity. In this review of testing and the minority child, the ways in which schools can test and use test results to help all children learn are explained. (Author)

Investigated the Mathematics Problem Solving (MPS) and Mathematics Concepts (MC) subtests of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills for content and psychometric item bias at grades three, six, and eight. Identified items which favored either males or females. Found no skill classification, item content, or location trends. (Author/JAC)

The article presents a review of test abuse and misuse with the Chicano. It reviews several measures undertaken to rectify abuses and misuses of tests but that have frequently been the source of new problems while not really ameliorating the basic condition, e.g., test translations, adding points, renorming test scores, and importing tests. (NQ)

This article briefly traces the development of intelligence testing from its beginnings in 1905 with Alfred Binet; cites the intelligence theories of Spearman, Thurstone, and Guilford; and examines current objections to intelligence tests in terms of what they test and how they are interpreted. (SJL)