Multiple Aspects of Bias on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (Forms A &amp; B) for White and for Mexican-American Children

Reynolds, Cecil R.; Piersel, Wayne C.

doi:10.1177/073428298300100203

Cited by 5 publications

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“…The definition of bias in construct validity proffered above requires that the accuracy of measurement be constant across groups. Many studies show a high degree of consistency among estimates of internal reliability of these tests across race for blacks, whites, and Mexican Americans (e.g., Dean, 1977;Jensen, 1974Jensen, , 1977Oakland & Feigenbaum, 1979;Sandoval, 1979;Reynolds & Piersel, 1983), though the proper statistical comparison of reliability coefficients is not frequently undertaken (Reynolds, in press). For children, the correlations between age and raw scores is also relatively constant across race Reynolds, 1980c; Reynolds, Willson, & Chatman, Note 5).…”

Section: Table 2 Coefficients Of Congruence Between Wisc-r Factors Dementioning

confidence: 99%

Test Bias: in God We Trust; All Others Must Have Data

Reynolds

1983

J Spec Educ

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Racial and cultural test bias continues to be a major concern among all professionals involved in the placement and treatment of handicapped children. Though embroiled in social, political, and emotional snarls, the issue must be addressed, professionally, from a primarily empirical standpoint. This paper reviews the research program of the author and several of his colleagues in their attempts to evaluate empirically the merits of the cultural-test-bias hypothesis. There is little evidence to substantiate claims of bias for well-constructed, properly standardized tests. Correspondingly, minority and other disadvantaged children with low academic and aptitude test scores need remedial and special educational help just as much as do their white middle-class counterparts.

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Section: Table 2 Coefficients Of Congruence Between Wisc-r Factors Dementioning

confidence: 99%

Test Bias: in God We Trust; All Others Must Have Data

Reynolds

1983

J Spec Educ

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“…The results obtained by Ross and Reschly (1983) lewicz and Abel, 1984) and that, although the Mexican-American subjects scored almost a standard deviation below the norm, there was no reliable evidence of test bias (Argulewicz et al, 1983). Reynolds and Piersel (1983) All things considered, it can be concluded that the tests predict equally well for middle class, for economically disadvantaged, and for linguistic minority students. The psychometric properties of the tests seem to be equal for different ethnic groups, this means that the tests basically behave in the same manner with all ethnic groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequency of Use as a Measure of Word Difficulty in Bilingual Vocabulary Test Construction and Translation

Tamayo

1987

Educational and Psychological Measurement

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To verify whether or not frequency of use is an acceptable measure of word difficulty in vocabulary test construction and translation, three 24 word lists, one English and two Spanish, were compiled. The first list of Spanish words matched the meaning and frequency of use of the corresponding English words, whereas the second list of words matched the meaning but not the frequency of use. The English list was administered to 80 English-speaking eighth grade students and the Spanish lists to samples of 80 Spanish-speaking students (40 Mexicans and 40 Puerto Ricans) matched to the English counterparts in grade, age, sex, and academic achievement. Means were compared for statistical significance of differences. Most of the comparisons between the English and the Spanish frequency matched synonyms-either with Mexicans or Puerto Ricans or with boys and girls-were not statistically significant, whereas most English-Spanish comparisons when frequency of use was not matched were significant. The results support the hypothesis that frequency of use is a valid measure of word difficulty that could be utilized in vocabulary test construction and translation.

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“…Tests for factorial equivalence of scores on 10 subscales of the WISC-R for large samples of middle and low SES children indicated that the subscales measured equivalent constructs in the two groups (Hale, 1983). Reynolds and Piersel (1983) examined the cross-group factorial congruence of the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC) Forms A and B across White and Mexican American children and found no significant construct bias. Using a multi-sample confirmatory factor analysis approach to detect construct bias in the K-ABC for large samples of White and African American 7-12-year-olds, Keith, Fugate, DeGraff, Diamond, Shadrach, and Stevens (1995) found no differences in 7-8-year-old children and small differences, apparently caused by measurement error, in 9-12-year-old children.…”

Section: Construct Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Owing to the large number of studies to summarize, we will in each case state first the predictor and criterion measures and then the basic results, (a) Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC) Forms A and B as predictors of early school achievement on the SRA Achievement Series and first grade basal-reader placement in samples of White and Mexican American children. The only significant bias was that BTBC Form B overpredicted reading performance of Mexican Americans (Reynolds & Piersel, 1983); (b) Two McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities subtests, Lee-Clark Readiness Test, Mathematics and Language subtests of the Tests of Basic Experiences, Preschool Inventory-Revised Edition, and Metropolitan Readiness Tests as predictors of Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT) scores of groups of African American and White children. Out of 112 statistical analyses, 13 produced instances of overprediction of MAT scores for the lower-scoring African American group (Reynolds, 1980, 1983); (c) Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) global cognitive scores as predictor of Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) scores for English-speaking Mexican American and White samples of fifth and sixth graders of similar socioeconomic status.…”

Section: Bias Research In School Psychology Journals Since Bimtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bias in mental testing since Bias in Mental Testing.

Brown

Reynolds²,

Whitaker³

1999

School Psychology Quarterly

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but the reasons for these differences are an ongoing source o f controversy. One popular and longstanding claim is that mean differences are caused by "cultural bias" in the tests. Arthur Jensen exhaustively review ed the empirical literature on the issue o f test bias, which resulted in his seminal book, B ias in M en ta l Testing (BIM T), published in 1980. On the basis o f empirical criteria for evaluating test bias, Jensen con cluded that standardized aptitude/ability tests predict equally w ell for American-born, Eng lish-speaking majority and minority subgroups and measure similar constructs. This paper summarizes the major conclusions from BIM T and evaluates writing on test bias published since BIMT. W e conclude that empirical research to date consistently finds that standardized cognitive tests are not biased in terms o f predictive and construct validity. Furthermore, con tinued claim s o f test bias, which appear in academic journals, the popular media, and som e p sychology textbooks, are not empirically justified. T hese claim s o f bias should be met with skepticism and evaluated critically according to established scientific principles.The interpretation of mean differences in mental test scores for native-born, Eng lish-speaking ethnic/racial subgroups is a source of major professional and public controversy (e.g., Jacoby & Glauberman, 1995). According to the cultural test bias The authors thank Len L ecci and an anonym ous review er for helpful com m ents on an earlier draft, and Craig Frisby for his thoughtful discussion s, suggestions, and great tolerance during d evelopm ent o f this article. The authors o f course accept responsibility for all content. A ddress corresp on d en ce to either R obert T. B row n , D epartm ent o f P sy c h o lo g y , U N C W , W ilm ington, NC 2 8 4 0 3 -3 2 9 7 (brow n@ uncw il.edu) or C ecil R. R eynolds, Department o f Educational P sych ology, Texas A & M U niversity, C ollege Station, TX 7 7 8 4 3 -4 2 2 5 (crrh@ bluebon.net).

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Multiple Aspects of Bias on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (Forms A & B) for White and for Mexican-American Children

Cited by 5 publications

References 10 publications

Test Bias: in God We Trust; All Others Must Have Data

Test Bias: in God We Trust; All Others Must Have Data

Frequency of Use as a Measure of Word Difficulty in Bilingual Vocabulary Test Construction and Translation

Bias in mental testing since Bias in Mental Testing.

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