Overcoming bias in the educational assessment of Hispanic students.

Abstract

Historical Overviewhe 1990 advance census estimated the Hispanic population at 20.8 million, T which represents approximately a 14.3% increase over the 1987 census figure (Rogler, Malgady, & Rodriguez, 1989). The annual growth rate of the Hispanic community has been estimated at 4.8%, compared with 1.8% for Blacks and .06% for Whites (US. Bureau of Census, 1990). Accordingly, school-age Hispanic children may be the largest growing group in the United States. Migration, acculturation. language, and socioeconomic and educational barriers have been associated with drug and alcohol abuse, delinquency, lower self-esteem, and, above all, the highest high school dropout rate of all ethnic-racial groups (Aspira of New York, 1983;Rogler et al., 1989). This alarming dropout rate has been associated with poor school achievement, which in turn has been linked to cognitive-intellectual 89

College Orientation Profiles of Latino Students From Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds: A Cluster Analytic Approach

“…Only 11% of Latino adults have received their bachelor's degrees compared to 30% of European Americans (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). This fact raises social and economic concerns for our country because the number of Latinos is increasing and schoolaged Latino children are the fastest growing group in the United States (Costantino, 1992). It is critical to find ways to assist Latinos in attaining their academic goals to ensure both their individual success and their contribution to the nation's economic prosperity.…”

Career Assessment With Latinos/Hispanics

“…For example, that Latinos/Hispanics are overrepresented in special education classes has caused great concern in the past decade. The claim has been made that tests used to select children for special education classes are biased against Latinos/Hispanics (Costantino, 1992). Cutoff scores on intelligence tests are set the same for all students, and many educators contend that Latino/Hispanic students may be not proficient with the English on the test, or unfamiliar with the cultural items sampled on the test.…”

The utility of the Kaufman assessment battery for children (K‐ABC) and the wechsler intelligence scales for linguistically different children: Clinical considerations

“…Despite criticism suggesting cultural bias in IQ tests (APA, 1993) and the frequent unavailability of norms for the population tested, testing still occurs to determine educational disability status and to make recommendations. Cultural bias is subtle (Costantino, 1992) and may exist when there is no statistical bias. The common measures of cognitive ability are not biased when statistical definitions of bias are employed (Jensen, 1974;Sattler, 1988).…”

“…There is a need for accurate assessment and appropriate services to this population. There is disagreement in the field regarding appropriate practice (for example, Costantino, 1992;McNicol, 1993;Sattler, 1988), and practitioners can be expected to vary in their assessment practices based upon training and experience. The technology to evaluate these youngsters is flawed at best (Figueroa, 1990), limiting school psychologists to assessing how a youngster compares with racially, linguistically, and/or culturally dissimilar others in the normative sample as opposed to stating a functional level.…”