Analyze the impact of test familiarity and general language comprehension on standardized testing

In the book The Mismeasure of Man, Stephen J. Gould (1996) discusses the culture behind biological determinism (i.e., the belief that the disparity in status among various groups arises from innate biological differences). He criticizes the practice of measuring intelligence as a single quantity, something that had become a common practice in the United States.

In the United States, intelligence testing became a device of power and its use led to the Immigration Act of 1924, which primarily restricted the entry of people from Southern and Eastern Europe due to their tendency to score low on the test. Unbelievably, immigrants were frequently tested in English when they arrived in the United States. Even worse, many were rejected based on the perspective that they had a dull and unintelligent appearance.

How does any of this relate to multicultural psychology?

In the modern society, people are tested all the time and certain cultural groups tend to perform worse than others on standardized tests. The end result of a poor score is not deportation; however, a poor score could limit access to higher education and other resources. In elementary school, poor test scores might even lead to negative labels and tracking, which could change the life of a child.

There is no denying that there are cultural differences with regard to education and testing. However, there are some parallels between what happened to the immigrants and what often happens to different cultural groups as they appear for aptitude or achievement tests. Many are so unfamiliar and confused when they go for testing that they are beset with anxiety. In such situations, the people are totally unfamiliar with the format of the test and the language.

In your response, address the following:

• Analyze the impact of test familiarity and general language comprehension on standardized testing. Do certain cultural groups have an advantage because of cultural practices and exposure?

• After taking a moment to conduct an Internet search on the scholastic assessment test (SAT) scores by socioeconomic level, describe why the socioeconomic level correlates with performance. Is there a culture associated with different socioeconomic levels?

• Analyze whether it is fair to compare the performance of cultural groups that do not speak English with those that have a good command over the English language.

Reference:

Gould, S. J. (1996). The mismeasure of man. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.