Two of the standards contained in the third draft of the new Joint Technical Standards for Test Development and Revision are discussed: Standard 3.13, mandating the use of multicultural material and the avoidance of material offensive to any major ethnic, cultural, or gender group; and Standard 3.14, mandating research and subsequent test revision…

This presentation is a review of the literature on the assessment of standardized test scores in black colleges. Divergent points of view exist relative to the misuse and use of standardized test scores for the sole purpose of admission of black students. Some misuses of the American College Test (ACT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are noted,…

The findings and conclusions from research on predictive validity among markedly different groups are discussed. Empirical findings using the regression line neither support nor contradict the existence of bias or the hypothesis of differential validity. Conclusions drawn from the research are questionable. Elimination of bias in a test, contrary…

In the United States, IQ tests are developed by and for whites. IQ tests and their derivates have been used on minorities not so much for prescriptive intervention purposes as for confirmation of suspiciously different behavior and for placement into special education and out of programs for the gifted, higher education, and advanced occupational…

The effects of selective dropout and retesting on the assessment of developmental changes in abilities during adolescence are examined. (ST)

Investigates how the performance of Mexican-American children residing in the southwest U.S.A. compares with Koppitz's normative group on the Bender Gestalt Test for Young Children. (Author)

Explores the differences among the traditional single-equation prediction model of test bias, the Cleary and the Thorndike model in a situation involving typical educational variables with young female and male children. (Author/DEP)

This presentation compares the results of a reanalysis of items in one form of a level of the 1978 SRA Achievement Series with the results from the pretest analysis. The bias analyses were performed on white or majority, black, Hispanic, male, and female samples from the pretest and two subsequent samples. Comparisons were made in terms of the…

A method of investigating for possible bias in test items is proposed that uses analysis of variance for item data based on groups that have been selected to have identical test score distributions. The item data used are arcsin transformations of item difficulties. The methodological procedure has the following advantages: (1) The arcsin…

The author traces reasons to support his contention that the state of the art in assessing learning disabled students is not good. Among issues examined are the following: use of tests for purposes other than those for which they were intended; technical adequacy of currently used tests (standardization, reliability, validity); the use of deficit…

A Job Descriptive Index was studied for possible bias by examining item-item curves for various pairs of items computed for contrasting samples. The two pairs of contrasting samples were 669 part-time workers versus 920 full-time workers and 486 male workers versus 1,146 female workers in a large merchandising company. Item-item curves were…

The first eight chapters of this book introduce the topic of test bias. The basic issues involved in criticisms of mental tests and arguments about test bias include: (1) variety of tests and test items; (2) scaling of scores and the form of the distribution of abilities in the population; (3) quantification of subpopulation differences; (4)…

An historical overview is presented of criticisms arising during an early period of large-scale standardized testing in the United States: the post World War II period when the Educational Testing Service was established. Not only is a brief description of the controversy provided, but the fact that many problems of assessment are not transient…

Angoff's method for identifying possible biased test items was applied to four computer-generated hypothetical tests, two of which contained no biased items and two of which contained a few biased items. The tests were generated to match specifications of a latent trait model. Angoff's method compared item difficulty estimates for two different…

The validity of current standardized competency tests for writing is in doubt as is the need for such testing at all. Some tests, especially those requiring little writing, may not be testing what they purport to test (content validity). Instructional validity (testing what has actually been taught) raises the issue that what is being tested is…