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Standardized Tests Culturally Biased?

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From the FOX News web article:

"High schoolers have as many as six opportunities before 12th grade to pass the exam. Twelfth-graders who have failed so far can take the test again in June.

Earlier this month, the state announced that 41 percent of African-American students scored at or above grade level in 2003, compared to 23 percent in 1998. At the same time, 51 percent of Hispanic students scored at or above grade level in 2003, compared to 38 percent two years before; and 73 percent of white students scored at or above grade level, compared to 65 percent in 1998."
 
Funny. After reading this I was curious about the test questions.

I go the the FCAT website and whats the first sample Reading Section question?


Many folk artists choose to show rural life through their art, but some also choose subjects from the city.

Which works have almost the same as rural life?

a)an artistic life
b) a practicle life
c) Life in the country
d) life in a foriegn land



Arguably this is a culturally biased question. More whites live rural areas and would be more familiar wh the terms rural and country.

Yeah its a stretch but thats juts one question in and already theres an issue.

Plus I find the question to be plain odd.
 
Tmy said:
Funny. After reading this I was curious about the test questions.

I go the the FCAT website and whats the first sample Reading Section question?


Many folk artists choose to show rural life through their art, but some also choose subjects from the city.

Which works have almost the same as rural life?

a)an artistic life
b) a practicle life
c) Life in the country
d) life in a foriegn land



Arguably this is a culturally biased question. More whites live rural areas and would be more familiar wh the terms rural and country.

Yeah its a stretch but thats juts one question in and already theres an issue.

Plus I find the question to be plain odd.
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That is preposterous. If you don't know what rural means, you are stupid, end of story. I don't care what color your skin is.

This attitude is exactly the problem.
 
The question asked if bias exists. I just threw out an example.

If you took stupid kid from country vs. stupid kid from city, do you think one would have an advantage here?
 
Tmy said:
The question asked if bias exists. I just threw out an example.

If you took stupid kid from country vs. stupid kid from city, do you think one would have an advantage here?
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You are so confused. Is it your theory that city white kids know better what "rural" means than city minority kids? Is it your theory that rural white kids know better what "rural" means than rural minority kids? Is it your theory that they bussed rural white kids to the city to compete against the urban minority kids?

Should we not ask what "corn" means because rural kids are more familiar with the concept?

This is just silly.
 
I didnt say the test IS bias but it could be. Whats silly is to dismiss the notion that a test is bias wh/o even looking at the test. For example there could be gender bias questions that focus on sports.


I only looked at one question, I didnt examine the whole thing. Who knows what the other questions are.
 
Tmy said:
I didnt say the test IS bias but it could be. Whats silly is to dismiss the notion that a test is bias wh/o even looking at the test. For example there could be gender bias questions that focus on sports.


I only looked at one question, I didnt examine the whole thing. Who knows what the other questions are.
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Point taken, but you'll certainly have to find a better example than that.

I was just going by the quotes in the article. When someone says "There's obviously SOMETHING wrong" but can't point to an example, I tend to think they have no ammunition.
 
I wish they would release a lot of the questions. Then we could examine them. Forthe record, tehre will always be that group of stupid kids who wont pass. I have no problem with that.

My issue is that a State woudl rather rely on one big standardized test as a measure of a childs education. This trumps the multiple grading on multiple subjects by teachers who have spent hours with these kids.

Who's in a better position to gauge the knowledge???


The underling issue is that the State thinks the teachers are just rubber stamping these kids.
 
I am not suer that testing doesn't just show your abilty to take tests. Bushes motivation is mainly to have ammo for school vouchers, I'd like to see an experiment where they flood poor school districts with money.
 
I voted Yes

I've taken those tests. They are not hard. They are not biased.

The problem isn't the tests, it's the schools.
 
Dancing David said:
I am not suer that testing doesn't just show your abilty to take tests. Bushes motivation is mainly to have ammo for school vouchers, I'd like to see an experiment where they flood poor school districts with money.
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*sigh*

Money isn't the problem. And more won't solve the problem.
 
Luke T. said:


*sigh*

Money isn't the problem. And more won't solve the problem.
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It sure is when we have school districts that can't afford text books and roofs, or to provide security to the students. I blame my state myself.
 
Tmy said:
Funny. After reading this I was curious about the test questions.

I go the the FCAT website and whats the first sample Reading Section question?


Many folk artists choose to show rural life through their art, but some also choose subjects from the city.

Which works have almost the same as rural life?

a)an artistic life
b) a practicle life
c) Life in the country
d) life in a foriegn land



Arguably this is a culturally biased question. More whites live rural areas and would be more familiar wh the terms rural and country.

Yeah its a stretch but thats juts one question in and already theres an issue.

Plus I find the question to be plain odd.
Click to expand...

I answered this in the other thread, and I feel Sundog agrees with me..

This question is about the definition of an english word and has nothing to do with whether or not you live in the country....


It's definitely biased... If you do not have a 7 - 8th grade understanding of english...


P.S. I voted yes... They are culturally biased. For a culture that has a grasp of the english language..
 
Sundog said:
Beat ya to it. :p

http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20510

This might get a little confusing. The question in your thread title and the question in the poll are in opposition. I voted my answer to the thread title.

Maybe this was a test and I flunked it?
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The thread title addressed the web article title, while the poll question addressed my own personal curiosity.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
Well, whether or not they are biased I think using a single standardized test to evaluate the effectiveness of an entire childhood's worth of education is foolish.

To me, the most important thing a kid can get out of an education (besides simply learning to read and do simple math) is critical thinking. Standardized tests tend to reward memorization, and not critical thinking. Our current educational system, which is already heavily geared to standardized tests, turns out class after class of high test scoring oriented zombies. If you don't believe me, try having an intelligent conversation with a group of law students (a group proven to be quite high test scorers).

That said, everyone who hasn't already should go out and read Stephen J Gould's The Mismeasure of Man. He has a lot to say about the effectiveness, and the bias, involved in standardized testing.
 
Here is a question that might be culturally biased:

1 million dollars plus 1 million dolllars is how much?

a. 2 million dollars
b. 1 million dollars
c. 4 million dollars
d. 3 million dollars.



Maybe some people think a question like this is culturally biased because they haven't even seen one dollar?



:D
 
Diogenes said:



P.S. I voted yes... They are culturally biased. For a culture that has a grasp of the english language..
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When I was in catholic graed schoo we had this classmate from China. He ran circles around us in Math but he struggled with other subjects because he was just learning English. He was really smart but the language thing held him up. He woudlve done horrible in one of these tests. Woudl he not deserve to graduate???

How many of us had TA's in college that could barley speak english?
 
Tmy said:

He woudlve done horrible in one of these tests. Woudl he not deserve to graduate???
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Not if one of the requirements was fluency in english...

It's called ' not passing the course '....

To pass him would be to demean the ones who did..



P.S. I have no problem giving him a certificate that says " Way to go on the Math "... Of course he would have to get someone to read it for him.
 
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