Selection System Bias In Research

Standardized tests can also be biased or unfair because questions on these tests necessitate understanding and abilities that typically children from advantaged families have (Kohn, A, 2000). Children who live in poorer communities have a

Standardized testing has been around since the early 1900’s. Today, it determines a high school student’s future. Every year juniors in high school start to prepare months in advance for the SAT’s and ACT’s. Along with the test itself, comes stress that is not necessary. The debate of standardized tests defining a student’s academic ability or not has become a recent popular controversial topic. Many colleges and universities are starting to have test optional applications because they are realizing that a single test score does not demonstrate the knowledge of a student. There is more value in a student that should rule an acceptance or rejection. In the article, “SAT Scores Help Colleges Make Better Decisions” Capterton states, “The SAT has proven to be valid, fair, and a reliable data tool for college admission” (Capterton). Capterton, president of the College Board, believes that the SAT’s and ACT’s should be used to determine a student’s acceptance because it is an accurate measure. What Capterton and deans of admissions of colleges and universities don’t know is the abundant amount of resources upper class families have for preparation, the creative talents a student has outside of taking tests, and the amount of stress they put on a 17 year old.

Labeling bias exists when a test claims to measure one thing but actually measures something else. Tests that claim to assess such traits as “aptitude” or “intelligence” imply that they are measuring something innate, given that many people assume that these traits are genetic. However, Jencks notes that “almost all psychologists now agree that while an individual’s score on an intelligence or aptitude test depends partly on his or her genetic makeup, it also reflects a multitude of environmental influences” (p. 56). Thus, such tests are racially biased estimates of the innate traits that most laypeople think these tests are purporting to evaluate. Fortunately, this bias can be eliminated by simply changing the names of what these tests claim to measure.

A standardized test refers to any examination that is administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. There are two major types of standardized test: aptitude test and achievement test (Popham 1999). The test that is most familiar to parents, educators and students is the standardized achievement test. Every year schools administer achievement test to students, the scores of these test are then used by the public and school board members to evaluate a schools effectiveness. Although previous generations of American student have had to sit through test, never have test been given so frequently or played such a prominent role in schooling as they do today (Kohn 2000). The large role standardized testing has taken in todays schooling has lead many to question whether or not it is effective in measuring educational quality. In fact many researcher have reason to believe it is in face ineffective due to a bias against minority students. In order to understand how a bias in standardized testing would impact minority students, we must educate ourselves on the amount of preparation the test requires, as well as how it is created. The issue of standardized testing being biased should matter to all people, not just those who are directly effected by it, because as a society it is our job to ensure that each child is given equal opportunity to succeed.

Einstein once said, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Likewise, if a poor test-taker is judged by their SAT score, they could be forced to attend an inadequate institute of higher education. For decades, the SAT has been “the test” that makes or breaks a student's chances of getting into their top college. Generally, the privileged populace do well, but minorities and women do not come out as strong and are therefore limited to college choice. The SAT has proven to be an unsuitable, biased method for predicting success of students in college.

Grodsky, Warren, and Felts (2008) researched the complicated relationship between testing and social inequality. They found that some supporters of testing have promoted it at least partly as an solution to rigid class structures. For an example, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was designed in part to make top colleges into places for bright young men from all backgrounds, not just the children of the elite. Though, modern critics note that standardized assessments largely reflect socioeconomic status, mainly because students from privileged backgrounds with average scores can increase their results by taking expensive private test preparation courses (Gershon,

Standardized testing has been ruling over the lives of students, making or breaking them in their education without fair judgement. Tests like the SAT and the ACT count for way too much when applying to colleges, which in turn limits the student 's capabilities to thrive in an environment that would benefit them. There are many problems within a standardized test that deems them to be unreliable as a true test of knowledge. Although designed to test groups of students on intelligence, standardized testing neglects to fairly acknowledge the abilities of each unique student which reflect their true capabilities.

Over the past decade, several researchers have released evidence proving a bias in standardized testing towards minority students. In this paper I will argue in favor of those supporting the idea of a bias in standardized testing. A bias in standardized testing would not only effect the students it is biased against, but the public and other students as well. This is why it is important that we take the time to educate ourselves with the evidence provided. In order to make a decision as to whether or not standardized testing is indeed biased, we must educate ourselves on the amount of test preparation the test requires, as well as how it is created.

“High school grades reflect years of effort and are more reliable assessment of college potential than test scores.” Historians detected that standardized testing started back in the seventh-century in China. The government of China began to organize written exams to select people for the civil service. Also many educators try to make sure that they are following the right requirements but some of them don’t and do all sorts of stuff with the results. Many individuals would say that standardized testing is a helpful way of learning from what the student knows and doesn’t, but the consequences that teachers found out of the standardized tests are making the students have a decrease in critical thinking.

Chapter 5 of the book, Classroom Assessment, written by W.J. Popham, is titled: “Absence-of-Bias”. Assessment Bias is when the assessment is unfair or offended for students discussing race, gender, religion, or different characteristics. Teachers should have tests remain unbiased because they need to make sure students’ have an understanding of the content. For example; if a teacher likes basketball and on the math test all the questions were related to basketball. The teacher made the test biased against the students taking the test. The students may be able to do math, but it prohibited one from doing their best because one might not understand the concept/context of the basketball question. It is important for teachers to make assessment

Supporters of the test may state it is a good base or “key” to use and gage a student when looking to gauge their academic skill level. Swing to the other side and it’s unsurprisingly easy to find the reasons to oppose the test. Reasons include that the test prevents some students from unlocking their full academic potential due to their lack of easily available resources. Lack of these resources could be due to financial situations or a person’s ethnic background. Studies show the SAT cannot predict a student’s performance in secondary school. These studies examine and exhibit to us (the viewer) that the SAT lacks in showing a student’s true qualities and work ethic. Segregating students based on a test prevents a student from possibly unlocking their full potential. Students judged by their SAT are not the only ones missing out on potential academic success, the future of America loses the chance to further educate the next generation of potential

Great post! I do believe biases exist in test. In addition, I believe the standardized tests are meant to be fair and objective. Do the societal claims of test results have consequences that are unfairly advantage or disadvantage certain groups of students? I would answer, yes. If you have developers of a test is not demographically or culturally representative of the students who are taking the test, the items may reflect unintentional bias. For example, the creators of the test are all white, upper to middle-class males, the poor results from certain groups because of the cultural oversights, presents advantage demographically similar test takers and disadvantage

The tests require children to draw from knowledge they learn or experiences they’ve had outside of school, which is different for each student. According to W. James Popham, an expert on educational assessment, “If children come from advantaged families and stimulus-rich environments, then they are more apt to succeed on items in standardized achievement test items than will other children whose environments don't mesh as well with what the tests measure”. The biases in the development and administration of standardized tests often contribute to the achievement gap between whites and minorities. As a result students from low-income and minority families, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities are more likely to be held back a grade, be placed in unnecessary remedial education programs, and be denied a diploma (Reese, pg. 1). Another problem with standardized testing is the tests do not accurately measure teacher quality. Standardized tests are often used to evaluate teachers and schools staff based on their student’s scores. However, standardized tests are limited indicators of student knowledge and progress; therefore they do not reflect the wide range of knowledge and skills a teacher covers in the classroom. It is unfair to isolate the impact of one individual because teaching is a collaborative and developmental process (FairTest, pg. 1). People think that if standardized test scores are high they can label teachers as

This is significant because partial and unfair tests prevent students from trying harder and therefore doing well on the SAT and ACT. High school instructors in the United States tend to use conventional methods of teaching, sticking to the basics of hour-long lectures, guided group activities, and Socratic seminars, which are most compatible with auditory and visual learning styles. They do not and can not accommodate to each individual student, especially since budget deficits have led to increasingly larger classroom sizes. Ergo, students are not able to perform to college-level standards, which the SAT and SAT were designed to anticipate. Notwithstanding, the ineffectiveness of the SAT and ACT is not entirely related to their inherent bias for specific learning styles, since college readiness assessments do not evaluate essential skills.

“Self-selection bias” also appeared in Jacqueline Rabe Thomas’s article “State Report: Students in Desegregated Schools Test Higher.” Thomas provided evidence for the fact that students enrolled in desegregated magnet schools perform higher than students enrolled in traditional schools, and made the conclusion that desegregated schools are better than non-segregated schools. However, Thomas failed to control for self-selection bias in the study she examined. She states that only two out of 25 students were not proficient in reading in a magnet school and 12 out of 25 students were not proficient in traditional schools, and “for Hartford residents who enroll in a suburban school through the Open Choice program, seven of 25 students in fifth grade were not proficient. Students are accepted into these schools through a blind lottery operated by the state” (Thomas). The study did not give any attention to the fact that those students who