Chapter VI:
Communication Differences, Test Performance and Educational Placement
Virtually all tests and assessment procedures used in schools and classrooms require students to manipulate information using tools of communication. Often these tests and procedures presume competence in standard English and in the communication rules of the educated segment of society.
Much discussion and research in the last decade have focused on test bias and on culturally fair methods for assessing students" behavior and knowledge. Indeed, a number of court cases and legislative initiatives have prohibited the use of culturally discriminatory tests and assessment procedures, e.g., Public Law 94 142: the Education for All Handicapped Children Act.
Culturally biased tests can adversely affect students from many cultural groups, particularly those who do not speak standard English. For example, these tests can contribute to:
- Lowered expectations of student performance;
- Negative attitudes toward low performing students;
- Lowered self esteem and expectations by students;
- Lowered expectations of student performance by parents;
- Inappropriate placement in special education and speech/language therapy programs; and
- Lowered probability of placement in talented and gifted programs.
While classroom teachers do not typically administer standardized tests, they do use assessment procedures in classrooms. Also, because students are placed in classes on the basis of standardized test results administered by others, teachers' expectations of students are often influenced by such test results. Furthermore, teachers typically take part in the referral and evaluation process to determine whether a student needs special education or related services. For these reasons, and others, teachers should understand test and assessment bias and should know what to do about it.
Sources of Bias in Tests and Assessment ProceduresIn general, teachers should be aware of seven major sources of test and assessment bias. They are presented with examples in Table VI.
Teachers need to be aware of how communicative factors can influence test performance and of the impact their evaluations of students' performance can have. For example, if students fail to understand test directions, they may respond incorrectly to a whole series of questions. If they are not competent in standard English, students may answer questions incorrectly because of inaccurate analyses of their content. If their cognitive learning style is field dependent or synthesizing rather than field independent or analytical, they may have difficulty with formats which seek best answers to questions when all answers contain an element of truth. Furthermore, students may hold different values than those assumed by the teacher or they may obey different communicative rules for verbal behavior in the social situation which test questions address. Finally, the teacher may misinterpret a student's culturally based communicative style and draw erroneous conclusions about the student's knowledge.
What to Do About Assessment BiasIt is not reasonable to expect that teachers will develop their own culturally fair tests and assessment procedures. However, teachers can contribute to a more positive assessment environment for culturally diverse students. According to Taylor and Payne (1983), teachers can address the assessment bias issue in the following ways:
- Ensure that all students understand the test directions.
- Ensure that the test does not presume linguistic knowledge that students may not have unless, of course, the test is designed to assess knowledge of a specific language or dialect.
- The test should not require students to articulate values which they do not share.
- The test should be compatible with the preferred learning styles of the student.
- Situational and interactional constraints must be considered from a cultural perspective in evaluating oral communication behavior on tests.
- In the scoring or interpretation of test performance, the student's response style must be considered.
- When referring students for special testing or placement in special education, be certain that results of evaluations are not flawed by cultural differences in behavior and language.
- Do not include culturally discriminatory items on tests.
- Accept as correct those test answers which are considered valid within the student's culture, even if the particular answer is not listed in the manual as being correct.
- Consider two scores for tests which have a cultural component, a culturally unadjusted score and a culturally adjusted score.
- Support efforts to decrease reliance on standardized tests for assessments, using alternative assessment procedures where possible and appropriate.
- Support efforts to involve parents and the community in assessing test findings.
New standardized tests and assessment procedures are needed which are culturally valid. Until those tests are available, teachers should be skeptical of the results of most standardized tests administered to culturally and linguistically diverse children and should exercise caution in using these results for making placement decisions.
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