Test Bias Analysis

Knowledge isn’t all about what people know or how well they are in school. IQ tests test the intelligence of the person; however they test the pure thinking capacity rather than what people know. This means that intelligence comes from the entire cognitive thinking ability and not what they

     Since the development of the intelligence quotient, schools in every part of the world have been using the IQ test to categorize millions of students into three groups. These three groups, which are the gifted, the average, and the retarded, are falsifications that perpetuate in our world culture and cause many gifted students to be deemed retarded and vice a versa. Why then is the IQ test so heavily relied on in our school systems? For schools the answer is simple, an I.Q. test is a reliable predictor of a students later performance in academics. This answer is relatively true, but where the I.Q. test falls extremely short is with testing the multiple

One of the difficulties in identifying the needs of low-income students is the profound cultural barriers which exist that prevent their strengths and deficits from being identified. Children from low-income homes frequently have poorer vocabularies and a weaker basis of the type of knowledge that is frequently considered 'intelligence' on most forms of assessment. A low-income child's IQ may be high, even though he lacks a framework of accepted middle-class knowledge. "In January 2003, the National Academy of Sciences released a report on the seeming overrepresentation of minorities in special education and underrepresentation of those students in gifted education. The NRC reported that, nationwide, 7.47 percent of all white students and 9.9 percent of Asian students are placed in gifted programs. Meanwhile, 3.04 percent of African-American students, 3.57 percent of Hispanic students, and 4.86 percent of American Indian students are classified as gifted" (GT-minority identification, 2003, ERIC Clearinghouse). The discrepancy, the NAS believed, could not be solely explained by talent alone but was at least partially rooted in the methods of identifying students labeled as gifted. Biases in standardized and other tests identifying student strengths, combined with prejudices, however unintentional, amongst educators and administrators lead to under-identification of the gifted

Intelligent quotient test is defined as a test that has been formulated and it is often used to measure human intelligence. There are many different types of IQ tests that are used to determine the level of intelligence between different test subjects. IQ testing has a wide range of application and in different specialized professions. Human resource managers have applied IQ testing as part of the tests administer during interviewing process. However, IQ testing has a wide application in research field where they are used to measure different traits across cultures or races. IQ testing has attracted many controversies, most of which support the assertion that IQ testing is indeed biased. This essay will present arguments in support of this standpoint.

Specifically, it holds high test-retest and internal validity (Cross et all, 2008). The validity scales of the test also allow the assessor to determine “faking good,” “faking bad,” and level of defensiveness (Cross et all, 2004). Not only is there a difference between personalities in gifted children and non-gifted children, but their differences are negative deviations from the norm. This literature review will show that teachers, guidance counselors, school psychologists, and other educational placement professionals can use the results of the MMPI-A to better support gifted adolescents

In the article "Goodness Personified: The Emergence of Gifted Children", Leslie Margolin explains the social construction of gifted child programs in our public school systems. Even the name “gifted child” is socially constructed to give the impression that the child is special or different from the other children. The gifted program itself was socially constructed in the early 19th century to help separate the upper-middle class students from the newly admitted lower class students. This is done by giving the children a test to find if they are on a gifted level

Therefore, it is vitally important when administering an assessment or test to understand the nuances of cultural diversity, since it seems to be a matter of when not if there will be conflicts and issues that arise. The threat of discrimination and unethical treatment in all assessments, including psychological assessments, is very real and needs to be considered when implementing testing or assessments (Cohen et al., 2013). Therefore, the objectivity of a test should be considered in order to prevent minority or other diverse cultural groups from being at a disadvantage; which is even more important when dealing with important testing and assessment issues such as education or professional development

Using teachers to screen for potential gifted students gives a basis for more formal testing of the students. However, the district must first define their own requirements for a gifted program. Primarily, a higher than average IQ score, general good grades, leadership abilities, and creative abilities should be considered when looking to identify gifted students. While all of these characteristics are important, it is also important to note that students may not possess all of them, and may only have a gifted talent in one specific area of study. When a teacher suspects giftedness, they should refer the student to the guidance counselor or school psychologist, who can then set up a formal assessment to determine if the student has enough of the characteristics to qualify as gifted by the state. After students have been identified, it is then important to secure a GIEP (Gifted Individual Education Plan) and make greater opportunities available. However, as mentioned above, the first step is to use the tools described above to identify students in need of the gifted

When IQ tests first came about, many of the questions were designed based on American Culture and discriminated highly against immigrants. It was commonly believed during that time period that those particular groups of individuals were not well suited for success and were denied a higher education. Similar to that of the World war years, children in the 21st century who have English as a second language struggle on standardized exams because of linguistic or cultural differences. Some standardized tests are primarily normed for middle to upper class cocasions making it extremely difficult for those who do not fit within the “norm” to do well. Besides for the fact that these exams aren’t properly normed for the overall population taking them, a lack of funding is also a predominant reason for poor testing results. Other issues such as learning disabilities like ADHD, Dyslexia or severe handicapping conditions will also affect the outcome of the child's test results and will unfairly put a teacher’s job on the line. No matter how severe a child’s disability may be, all children are required to take these standardized tests in order for the school to get funding from the state. There was an article released on March 5th 2014 about a disturbing video that showed teachers administering standardized tests to a group of kids that were barely functioning. In Long’s article she describes “These children had straps and buckles to keep their bodies upright in their wheelchairs and their eyes were either closed or unfocused. Most of them have the brain development and

Thinking is an important part of our human experience. In today’s world, it is one area of psychological study (p215). Based on the readings intelligence is a process is a combination of general abilities and practical skills. I don't think being intelligent is the same as being smart or talented. I do not believe that IQ or standardized tests are fair for many people. Standardized testing simply is a way of managing numbers; it just measures the output of one test. Standardized testing do not test to a person's talents. They do not really show how smart the students are.Therefore, they may have harmed many in the process. Each person can be good at

Two major issues related to cultural factors in assessment are test bias and test fairness. Test bias and test fairness is not the same thing and should not be used interchangeably. According to Shultz, Whitney & Zickar (2013) “Test bias is a technical psychometric issue that focuses on statistical prediction, whereas test fairness is a sociopolitical issue that focuses on test outcomes”. Test Bias is an issue in regards to culture because all cultures are not the same and do not interpret words the same way. If a single test was administered to one culture then its unlikely that anyone could claim test bias but when a test is given to random participants that encompasses different cultures depending on the results its likely there can be some test bias claims. Test bias can also be thought

This is the first time I've heard of the term test bias and again very I’m intrigued by the information I'm finding.

Initially for localized or individual districts their approach to managing gifted individuals appeared to be a series of hodge-podge ideas, definitions ,and criteria. Now it appears that at the local and states levels the way to best serve the gifted individual is through attempting to increase the total of numbers of students who would now meet the overall criteria for being a gifted individual. E. Wayne Lord in his article Policy and Underrepresented Gifted Students: One State’s Experience stated, that districts were allowed to label students as gifted for a trial period, yet those laws or polices were rarely if ever used. However, Lord then went on to say that due to updated and changes within those previously written laws; ever increasing numbers of gifted students began to meet state requirements for being identified as being gifted (Lord,

IQ scores are not always correct. For example, British Neuroscientist Adrian Owen reports “[IQ] tests do not say anything about your general intelligence, the majority were developed in the 50s and 60s when the way we thought and interacted with the world was different”. They were made so long ago, yet people put so much trust into them. People need to trust people’s own capabilities, not what an outdated test says. It has critically affected people in the past. According to Richard Nisbett, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan finds that “an IQ score doesn’t measure a person’s practical intelligence”. Imagine taking a test, and a person messes up on it. Like IQ tests, that score will be the definition of who that person are in school, and many other places in the real world. The person who messed up knows they could have done a lot better, but other people don’t. So it doesn’t measure practical intelligence, just how they were at that moment. IQ tests inaccuracy is why they should be banned.

In recent decades we see a boom in globalization. With the different cultures coming close to each other due to technological globalization, economical globalization, political globalization, the national boundaries are fading. The consequence of this is the need of comparative studies. Van De Vijer, 1998 mentioned that the rapid change in our societal structure is increasing the interest in comparative studies. Now a days we often come across with news related to performance and ranking of students of different countries compared internationally. With the increase in the interest in international comparison tests of academic achievement like Programme for International