Reviews the controversy over the National Collegiate Athletic Association's recent decision to base college freshmen's access to varsity sports on their high school standardized test scores, starting in 1986. Discusses the contention that the policy will discriminate against Black students. (RW)

Many studies have found that men have a higher level of economic understanding than women. Why such performance differences might matter for practical purposes is discussed. Results of a study which explored whether the gender differences found may be partly a result of the test instruments used are presented. (RM)

Reviews some better known Piagetian scales; analyzes and compares Piagetian-based and conventional intelligence measures. Reviews research comparing the two methods and examines whether racial groups' performance differs on Piagetian measures. Discusses the implications of Piagetian assessment procedures for school psychologists. (Author/RC)

Investigated cultural bias in 79 items of three verbal tests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). Administered three subtests to 40 Anglo- and 40 Native-American Navajo subjects. Results indicated 15 of 79 items (information, similarities, and vocabulary subtests) were biased against the Navajo sample. (Author)

Examined first and third person wording on a sex role attitude questionnaire. Results suggest that despite similar content, items worded in the first person are not equivalent to third person items as measures of sex roles. Third person scores of women were much higher than first person scores. (Author)

This paper presents a chi square method for assessing bias in test items. In this procedure an unbiased item is defined as an item for which the probability of a correct response is the same for any person of a given ability level regardless of that person's ethnic group. (Author/CTM)

Content analyses for sex bias were conducted on items from three widely-used achievement tests which together span the grade levels 1-12. A significant but modest correlation was found between an item's content bias and performance on that item by male and female students. (SJL)

A defense is presented against the criticism that school psychologists who critically evaluate the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA) are biased (TM 504 174). (MH)

Contrary to expectations, none of the interactions was significant. Failure to replicate previous studies was attributed to control of examiner bias, superior statistical and experimental controls, and to differences in subject characteristics. The efficacy of modeling films was not conclusively demonstrated. (Author)

Trends in performance were very clear. With the exception of leg coordination, White subjects scored better than non-White subjects on all subtests. White females and non-White females were superior to their male counterparts. (Author)

Analysis of variance and subjective rating by curriculum specialists were used to identify biased items on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Results show little agreement between statistical and subjective methods. Test developers should statistically support a reviewer's selection of biased items. (Author/CP)

A study with Mexican-American children showed the internal consistency reliability coefficients for the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) were high and comparable to those reported in the WRAT manual. A high relationship was found between WRAT and Metropolitan Achievement Test scores. WRAT meets reliability and validity requirements with Mexican…

A comparison of bilingual Puerto Rican students' scores showed no significant differences between the Full Scale and the Verbal Scale scores on both tests, but significant differences between the Verbal and Performance Scale scores on both tests. Caution in testing bilingual children before determination of bilinguality is recommended. (Author)

Test anxiety has been proven to be detrimental to students' standardized test scores. This study found test anxiety to be higher for Blacks than Whites in the junior high school setting examined. Test anxiety could be yet another factor in racial bias of testing. (Author)

Given that a pupil's capacity to learn is based largely on his/her ability to handle language, the results of achievement tests within the immigrant communities have highlighted the culture-laden nature of these tests. They are unfair in assessing the immigrants' language and academic ability. (PJM)