Sometimes assessments that work in theory fall apart in reality. This article discusses the unique learning-measurement system in Nebraska. Instead of relying on statewide standardized tests to comply with the accountability requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act--as is the case in the other 49 states--districts in Nebraska use their…

Estimating the validity of a test is only one concern for the human resources professional developing a personnel selection battery. An equally important concern is whether the test will result in adverse impact against a member of a protected class. It would be useful if the probability of adverse impact could be estimated prior to spending time…

Addressing concerns of some Alaska educators and parents about the fairness of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), this paper clarifies what can be expected of norm-referenced tests and examines the extent to which the results of the Alaska Statewide Student Assessment may be affected by test bias. Although some test items may ask questions…

The hypothesis that sexist wording as opposed to gender-neutral wording lowers the scores of females on interest measures was tested using occupational titles with a sample of 94 high school girls. Results lend no support to the hypothesis. (Author)

High School GPA and Scholastic Aptitude Test V and M scales were used to predict college GPA for Mexican-American and Anglo-American college students. Results indicated that regression systems were essentially parallel for both groups, with virtually no difference in intercepts, though prediction of Anglo GPA appeared slightly more accurate.…

In the Spring 2003 issue of "Harvard Educational Review," Roy Freedle stated that the SAT® is both culturally and statistically biased, and he proposed a solution to ameliorate this bias. His claims, which garnered national attention, were based on serious errors in his analysis. We begin our analyses by assessing the psychometric…

It is a widely held belief that anchor tests should be miniature versions (i.e., minitests), with respect to content and statistical characteristics of the tests being equated. This paper examines the foundations for this belief. It examines the requirement of statistical representativeness of anchor tests that are content representative. The…

A description of the rationale and the development of the BITCH-100 (Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity), a culture specific test for the American black population. Experimental evidence is reported on the norming and validation of this instrument and suggestions made as to potential advantages over the traditional testing approach as…

The Mantel-Haenszel (MH) procedure attempts to identify and quantify differential item performance (item bias). This paper summarizes the MH statistics, and identifies the parameters they estimate. An equivalent procedure based on the Rasch model is described. The theoretical properties of the two approaches are compared and shown to require the…

The definition of differential item performance (DIP), often referred to as item bias, is discussed. DIP is suggested as a comprehensive term to encompass item bias (item invalidity which is unfair to certain population subgroups) and instructional bias (a valid reflection of group differences in instruction or background). This study investigated…

A new approach to assessing unexpected differential item performance (item bias or item fairness) is introduced and applied to the item responses of different subpopulations of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) takers. The essential features of the standardization approach are described. The primary goal of the standardization approach is to control…

The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, Form U, is scored in two ways: number-correct and pattern. The latter makes use of the information about which particular items are answered correctly, giving more weight to the more discriminating items and making allowances for guessing. Critics have suggested that black students are penalized by pattern…

The effects of variations in degree of range restriction and different subgroup sample sizes on the validity of several item bias detection procedures based on Item Response Theory (IRT) were investigated in a simulation study. The degree of range restriction for each of two subpopulations was varied by cutting the specified subpopulation ability…

Discusses two types of test bias: the sex bias found in interest inventories and certain standardized achievement tests; and cultural bias found in some standardized intelligence tests. (HMV)