Norm‐Referenced Testing and Low‐Income Blacks

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to highlight biases, that is, learning styles and test bias, involved in testing low‐income Blacks with norm‐referenced, achievement tests and to offer suggestions to assist counselors in improving their students' test performance.

Instructional Strategies for Minority Youth

“…The use of standardized test data as decisive evidence of what urban minority students can or cannot do is problematic. Across the board, these students fall victim to culturally biased achievement and intelligence tests (Castinell and Castinell 1988;Eitzen 1992;Johns, VanLeirsburg, and Coseglia 1993). Textbook tests also fail to consider cultural diversity and individual learning styles.…”

Development of a performance-rating scale for a nutrition knowledge test developed for adolescents

“…The research showed that a higher proportion of students who scored below the national norm were from poverty-concentrated schools, irrespective of racial group. Low-income black Americans were also found to exhibit delayed language skills and use of few conceptual categories and abstractions ( 16 ) . This phenomenon was found to be linked to their cultural heritage, political background of slavery, discrimination and socialisation that resulted in their preference to intuitive rather than deductive reasoning; approximation of concepts such as space, number and time rather than striving for exactness; and dependence on non-verbal rather than verbal skills and being object-orientated.…”

Developing and Using Educational and Psychological Tests and Measures: The Unificationist Perspective

“…A common but inaccurate assumption in the existing literature is that evidence of criterion validity for one population of scores generalizes to other populations (Anastasi, 1985a(Anastasi, , 1985b. Thus, counselors who wish to draw inferences from an aptitude test to a group of non-White, inner-city students should not assume that evidence based on White middle-class students in a circumscribed region of the country is necessarily relevant to their questions (Castenell & Castenell, 1988;Tyler, 1984). In our view, the practice of assuming that a test "has" criterion validity based on a few studies with limited specific samples, which is common in much of the literature, needs to be reassessed.…”

“…For example, prior to using an ability or aptitude test with any client, one would need to determine if the test scores have any meaning for members of a given client's population. In this light, a common error made in using ability tests is in applying the scores to persons who come from populations that have not been included in the development, validation, or norming of the measure (Anastasi, 1985b;Castenell & Castenell, 1988;Cronbach, 1984). Again, a careful application of the scientific method would mitigate against such applications of test scores.…”