Test and measurement principles and methods

¶ … testing and two implications of tests and measurement in a clinical or educational setting: Racial bias and state standardized testing

With the introduction of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), standardized testing as a measure of school performance on the elementary, middle and secondary school levels became more important than ever before: now, funding for schools is linked to student performance on state standardized tests. Yet the SAT (Standardized Achievement Test) has begun to fall out of favor as a critical determining factor in the college selection process. More and more competitive universities are making the SATs optional. These two movements seem like paradoxical developments.

Standardized tests have always been controversial as measures of student performance. The SAT in particular has been frequently criticized as a biased test because of the discrepancy in SAT test scores between students of different races. Racial discrepancies are often notable between the scores of students many standardized tests, and it has been argued that quite often some students do not have the cultural as well as the academic 'common knowledge' and vocabulary to succeed on the SAT, even though the test claims to measure aptitude rather than achievement.

But what are the implications for proficiency exams regarding alleged racial bias? Even tests that aim to purely measure content knowledge, such as state proficiency exams, may be biased against students of different ethic groups. Theoretically, the tests merely measure what a student knows vs. what a student ought to know at his or her grade level. Widespread failure on the part of students thus indicates failure on the part of the school system. But what is the source of that failure -- is it a failure to conform to the test's definition of intelligence, a poor match between the test structure and the curriculum of the school, a failure on the part of the school to educate the child, or the child's inability to learn based upon wider social forces such as poverty and a lack of enrichment opportunities that the school cannot control? The results of these tests cannot provide answers to these questions.