The purpose of this study is to analyze items that exhibit gender-related Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in Mathematics in Jordan. Data was taken from the TIMSS 1999 of Jordan, which includes responses of 5, 299 eighth grade students. Mantel-Haenszel (MH) DIF procedure was applied to 124 multiple-choice items. The results showed that 37 items…

The idea that validity should be considered a property of inferences, rather than of assessments, has developed slowly over the past century. In early writings about the validity of educational assessments, validity was defined as a property of an assessment. The most common definition was that an assessment was valid to the extent that it…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) focused attention on the academic achievement of more than 5 million students with limited English proficiency. Obtaining valid test results for these students is challenging, given their language barriers. This testimony describes: (1) the extent to which these students are meeting annual academic…

This paper demonstrates that the various College Board examinations, most importantly the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs), make predictions of grade point averages at the University of California at Berkeley that are biased against women. This finding persists even when one has made corrections for differences in fields that women and men study…

This report presents results from a 10-item survey of 750 educators from 14 school sites, designed to gain insights into the perceptions educators hold regarding the problems of identifying gifted children from economically disadvantaged and limited English proficient backgrounds. Results indicated that major barriers to identification were test…

This newsletter contains seven articles related to the educational rights of culturally diverse language-minority students. "20 Years after Lau: In Pursuit of Equity Not Just a Language Response Program," by Alicia Salinas Sosa, points out that educational responses to Lau vs. Nichols have been minimum-compliance programmatic responses…

A critical analysis is presented of the literature as it relates to survey research, including personal interviews, telephone interviews, and mail questionnaires. Additional research concerns are explored, and a code of ethics for survey researchers is presented. Focus groups, interviews, long interviews, telephone interviews, and mail surveys are…

Although the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) is used extensively as an admissions test for graduate programs, relatively little research has examined the validity of the MAT for predicting subsequent graduate student achievement and no published studies have examined differential prediction of student performance from MAT scores. There were two…

This volume examines historic, cross-cultural, and psychometric issues with regard to the use of psychological testing in South Africa. After an introduction in Chapter 1, the following chapters are: "Measurement and Evaluation in Psychology and Education"; "History of the Development of Psychological Tests," which includes…

The reliability of four branching algorithms commonly used in computer adaptive testing (CAT) was examined. These algorithms were: (1) maximum likelihood (MLE); (2) Bayesian; (3) modal Bayesian; and (4) crossover. Sixty-eight undergraduate college students were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions using the HyperCard-based CAT program,…

Findings of the National Commission on Testing and Public Policy concerning problems in testing are reported. Recommendations are proposed for restructuring educational and employment testing to help people develop their talents and become more productive, and to help institutions become more productive, accountable, and just. Over a 3-year…

The study evaluated the invariance of the construct validity and thus the interpretation of Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Aptitude Test scores. A systematic procedure for investigation of test bias from a construct validity frame of reference was developed and applied. Invariant construct validity was defined as similar patterns of loadings…

The presented observations are primarily ethnographic and concern the way intelligence tests are given in schools, how biases in tests might be overcome and how black and white children are differently tested. Data on differences in testing patterns were collected via a 1978 survey of school psychologists in Illinois. The data concern the length…

The Nonbiased Assessment module contains seven sections that provide information on various issues relevant to the construction of programs for assessing minority group children. Each section, in addition to the discussion of the topic, contains a list of objectives for the workshop participant or reader, a pretest, simulations, and an annotated…

A brief introduction to the topic of gender bias and fairness in testing is provided. A test is biased if men and women with the same ability levels tend to obtain different scores. The conditions under which a test is administered, the wording of individual test items, and a student's attitude toward the test can affect test results. While gender…