The report describes research on the effects of labeling children from minority groups as retarded and includes a review of a system of multiculturalistic pluralistic assessment (SOMPA), an instrument for evaluating the abilities and potentialities of children based on different aspects of performance. Listed among findings of the Riverside study,…

Over 14,000 high school seniors were studied with respect to sociocultural differences on cognitive test item responses. Six different cognitive tests and ten different groups were analyzed. The tests were: vocabulary, picture-number, reading, letter-groups, mathematics, and mosaic comparisons. The groups were: American Indians, blacks,…

The average scores of high school students on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) have been dropping for the past twelve years. From 1974 to 1975, average scores dropped ten points on the verbal section and eight points on the mathematics section. These dramatic declines, the largest ever reported by the College Entrance Examination Board, have…

The purpose of the study was to compare the performances of black and white urban high school students on a conventional measure of intelligence, the Lorge Thorndike vocabulary test and a culture specific test, the Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity. In addition to determining whether or not there were race differences in performance…

Once again intelligence tests are being used as the major basis to establish the genetically determined limitations of minority and economically disadvantaged groups. By reviewing the arguments regarding the I.Q. test and the hereditability of intelligence, the author compares these with two sets of phenomena: the I.Q. test scores and the…

The paper considers how the technical aspects of interest measurement can contribute to sex bias and suggests guidelines for evaluating interest inventories for sex bias and for developing interest inventories which minimize sex bias. An overview is given of interest measurement techniques: in selecting a pool of items, developing scales, and…

Sixteen articles previously published in "El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican American Thought" are contained in this document. They represent those articles from "El Grito" which have had the largest impact on readers as well as representing the major concerns of Mexican American writers from 1967 to 1971. In addition to depicting Chicano…

The purpose of this study is to explore some of the cultural similarities and differences between West Indian immigrants and other Canadians. In particular, the accent is on providing information that will, hopefully, be of use to school teachers trying to understand the problems West Indian pupils face in the Canadian school system. The contents…

This paper considers the question of bias in group administered academic achievement tests, bias which is inherent in the instruments themselves. A body of data on the test of performance of three disadvantaged minority groups--northern, urban black; southern, rural black; and, southwestern, Mexican-Americans--as tryout samples in contrast to…

The aim of this paper is to describe the rationale and evaluation of the Black Intelligence Scale of Cultural Homogeneity (BITCH). A "culture specific" test is used to determine the taker's ability to function symbolically or to think in terms of his own culture and environment. A combination of dialect specific and culture specific…

First grade students stratified on the basis of their racial-ethnic and socioeconomic status (SES) were studied to determine factors measured by several readiness (aptitude) tests and to learn whether these factors differed for the children from the various groups. SES was determined by father's occupation, or if absent, mother's occupation; the…

A study involving the construction and administration of Black and White intelligence test forms to 386 Blacks and 386 Whites indicated that Blacks did not perform significantly better on the Black test form, suggesting differences in Black special education placement rates are not affected by underrepresentation in the test development group.…

Determines the accuracy of teacher judgment of the oral proficiency of pupils in French and Spanish high school classes. Results indicate that (1) teachers consistently overrate pupil performance and (2) the letter grade of the student in the foreign language class severely biases the accuracy of the teacher's judgment regardless of actual oral…

Hispanic children are often considered ineligible for participation in programs for the gifted and talented because of identification procedures that rely heavily on tests which are inappropriate for use with Spanish-speaking children and because of the widespread acceptance of an essentially inaccurate definition of giftedness as synonymous with…

Standardized tests rely on communicative behavior. Incongruities between the language of the test giver and the test taker can result in bias. Data on communications should be consulted so that tests allow for linguistic and cultural differences. This is the only way the abilities of Blacks can be accurately assessed. (VM)