Write a 250- to 300-word response to the following:
- Explain the salient points of the article. Identify 2 places where bias is acknowledged by the authors.
- Describe takeaways from the article that make you uncomfortable.
- Summarize the relevance of this article to educational leaders and stakeholders as it relates to assessment.
CULTURAL BIAS IN ASSESSMENT: CAN CREATIVITY ASSESSMENT HELP? I N T E R N A T I O N A L J O U R N A L O F C R I T I C A L P E D A G O G Y KYUNG HEE KIM DARYA ZABELINA Abstract Culture and background may lead to the inaccuracy of assessments, including traditional tests and alternative assessments. Standardized tests intend to measure intelligence and general knowledge, but they are normed based on the knowledge and values of the majority groups, which can create bias against minority groups, including gender, race, community status, and persons with different language backgrounds, socioeconomic status, and culture. Although alternative assess- ments are considered to be more culturally fair, they are still not completely fair. Creativity is as important as intelligence, and creativity assessment measures are normed on individual cultures. To reduce bias, we suggest that creativity assess- ments be added to traditional tests and alternative assessments. Key Words: assessment, cultural bias, creativity, standardized tests, cul- tural validity STANDARDIZED TESTS Standardized tests assert that they are fair and impartial measures of academic performance and have become the most prevalent measures of the quality of educational programs. The U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) required standardized testing of students at all levels of education: elementary, middle, and high school. The NCLBA implemented a federally –mandated testing pro- tocol that continues under the Race to the Top (RttT). Government agencies use these tests to determine that the various school systems in the U.S. equally serve every child, no matter their cultural background. However, performance gaps on standardized tests between ethnic minority groups (African American, 130 | International Journal of Critical Pedagogy | Vol. 6 No. 2, 2015 Latino, and Native American) and non-minority groups (mostly white/European American, but lately also Asian American students) in the U.S. prevail despite the government’s effort to reduce them (Arbuthnot, 2009; Forum for Education and Democracy, 2008; Salinas & Garr, 2009; U.S. Department of Education, 2005). Method bias may contribute to performance gaps between ethnic minority groups and non-minority groups in the U. S. due to the norming process of standardized tests. In general, most tests are normed using the scores of majority group populations. It may be inappropriate to use the same assessments with indi- viduals of various racial/ethnic minority groups without norming the instrument to reflect those groups. If the cultural or linguistic backgrounds of the individuals being tested are not adequately represented in the norming group, the validity and reliability of the test are questionable when used with such individuals (Pa- dilla & Borsato, 2008). For example, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) used an analogy with the word “regatta” that few African American students knew while many Caucasian counterparts were familiar with the word. Such groups may be denied access to educational and career opportunities if these tests produce inac- curate scores of knowledge and ability. In this review, we explore the possibility of expanding current testing practices to include creativity assessment. Such tests produce more uniform scores across ethnic and racial groups because they are normed for specific groups (Kim, in press; Torrance, 1977). VARIOUS CULTURAL BIASES Cultural Biases in Interpretation and Meaning of Words in Assessment What is considered wise in one society may not be considered wise in another; the value and meaning of intelligence depends on cultural norms. Demonstrating the culturally-specific nature of knowledge and intelligence, Cole, Gay, Glick, and Sharp (1971) conducted an experiment in which Western participants and Kpelle participants from Liberia were given an object-sorting task. Participants were asked to sort twenty objects that were divided evenly into the linguistic cat- egories of foods, implements, food containers, and clothing. Westerners tended to sort these objects into the groups for food and implements, while Liberian partici- pants would routinely pair a potato with a knife because, they reasoned, the knife is used to cut the potato. When questioned, Liberian participants justified their pairings by stating that a wise person would group the items in this way. When the researchers asked them to show what an unwise person would do, they did the taxonomic sort that is more familiar to the Western culture. In addition to biases due to culturally specific interpretation of test items, lan- guage impacts the understanding of test items. Cultural and social norms affect Cultural Bias in Assessment | Kim, Zabelina | 131 how test-takers understand and interpret the wording of test questions. How they make sense of the test items can be influenced by their values, beliefs, experiences, communication patterns, teaching and learning styles, and epistemologies of their cultures and societies (e.g., Solano-Flores & Nelson-Barber, 2001). Further, test item interpretation can be affected by test questions written in a language other than the native language of the test taker. It is important to con- sider a non-native English speaker’s language proficiency before deciding whether to test her/him in English or the native language (Geisinger, 2003). For example, a Latino might appear acculturated to the test administrators, but may be none- theless more proficient in Spanish than in English (Padilla, 1992). If the test is ad- ministered in English and is timed, it is likely that such a student will have more difficulties than if the test is in English, but untimed. To overcome these testing biases, researchers suggest that acculturation should be measured in addition to psychometric tests (Gopaul-McNicol & Armour-Thomas, 2002); however to date, there lacks a consensus on the most effective ways to measure acculturation (Cabassa, 2003). Sometimes even the same word may have different meanings for different cultures. For instance, the meaning of educacion in Spanish is different from that of education in English (Reese, Balzano, Gallimore, & Goldenberg, 1995). The social skills of respectful and correct behavior are important to the Spanish when they state educacion, whereas only cognitive processing is important to education in many Western societies. Another well-documented instance is when Native American students are asked, “Who is the son of your aunt?” “Brother” is selected by all of the Native American students in the fifth grade (even though the of- ficially accepted/ expected answer would be “cousin”) because all relatives of the same generation are called “brothers” in Native American culture (Shields, 1997). The way students use English sentence structure may also depend on cultural backgrounds. Native American students use a different sentence structure from that of English speakers when forming negative questions. When they are asked, “You don’t like eating this, [do you]?” they respond, “Yes” while they actually mean “Yes, you are right, I don’t like eating it” (Shields, 1997). Asian students use the same sentence structure as Native Americans. Thus, tests must take into account students’ ways of knowing and demonstrating their knowledge through their use of language (Solano-Flores & Trumbull, 2003; Swisher & Deyhle, 1992). Several culturally sensitive tests have been developed to address the issue of this type of bias. Williams’ (1972) Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homo- geneity (BITCH) is a better predictor of learning ability for African American students than other ethnicity groups. The results of the BITCH show that Afri- can American students perform better on the test than Caucasian students (Wil- liams, 1975). In addition, the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) (Naglieri, 1991) and the Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (CTONI) (Ham- 132 | International Journal of Critical Pedagogy | Vol. 6 No. 2, 2015 mill, Person, & Wiederhold, 1997) have been developed as culture-free ability assessments. The NNAT does not use words or language in any of the items on the test, and the figures that make up each item are not specific to any particular culture. In addition, the NNAT has been standardized on an English-speaking sample and a Spanish-speaking sample. The CTONI provides oral or pantomime instructions, and the examinee answers by pointing to the response that he or she thinks is correct. A review of the mean standard scores on the CTONI shows that all African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, Native Indian, and Caucasian students scored well within the normal range (Hammill et al., 1997). This may be because both the NNAT and the CTONI have used standardization samples with ethnic profiles that mirror the ethnic profile of the 1990 U.S. Cen- sus (Zurcher, 1998). Cultural Biases of Differential Effect of Acculturation Acculturation is the result of cultural adaptation due to intercultural contact, which is mainly considered as immigrants’ adapt to the host (dominant or main- stream) culture. Less acculturated immigrant students from cultures with empha- sis on strong ties to family may experience more difficulty learning to read English than students whose culture lacks emphasis of strong family ties (Portes & Zady, 2001). As such, students who identify with their families and intend to remain close to the family tend to have lower reading achievement in English, whereas those who report willingness to move away exhibit higher achievement. For ex- ample, reading achievement of Asian immigrant students is negatively influenced by the strength of their identification with their native culture. However, reading achievement of Hispanic counterparts is negatively influenced by the strength of their identification with American culture (Portes & Zady, 2001). This shows that Hispanic students do well if they are attached to their own culture, rather then to their host culture. This indicates that achievement is negatively influenced by perceptions and experiences of discrimination for both Hispanic and Asian im- migrant students, but in different ways. Acculturation to the culture of a particular school also creates negative effects in academic achievement. In schools in which Standard English is valued and stu- dents’ home languages are devalued, whether they be different dialects of English or other languages, a student’s adoption of the school’s valued language may feel like a rejection of one’s home community, which may be a difficult and painful decision (J. Baker, 2002). White middle-class students whose first language is English and who behave as teachers expect them to behave are provided more opportunities to learn than their peers, whereas students who do not embody these privileged