Return-Path: <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.9.3/8.9.0.Beta5/980425bjb) with SMTP id NAA01223; Mon, 27 Mar 2000 13:19:35 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 13:19:35 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <s8df5f3d.018@langate.gsu.edu> Errors-To: alcrsb@langate.gsu.edu Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Daphne Greenberg" <ALCDGG@langate.gsu.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:611] Re: Assessments and Women X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise Internet Agent 5.5.2.1 Status: OR You are right, there has been a lot of research and discussion in the past thirty years on these issues. However, was any of it done with adult learners, and on the tests they take? Daphne Daphne Greenberg Center for the Study of Adult Literacy Georgia State University University Plaza Atlanta, GA 30303-3083 Fax: 404-651-1415 Ph: 404-651-0400 E-mail: alcdgg@langate.gsu.edu >>> kathleenb@epcc.edu 03/27 1:02 PM >>> There are studies and a great deal of discussion for the past thirty years on these issues. The test makers have become sensitized to these issues and many of the items that appeared to give one gender or the other an advantage have been eliminated. Likewise, the test makers have eliminated items that overtly offer an advantage to people with certain class backgrounds or racial identification, i.e. whites. Consistently, women outperform men on verbal tasks, and men out perform women on math and spacial tasks. One of the problems with eliminating any items that distinguish between different groups of people who are, after all, different (poor inner city blacks vs. middle class suburban whites) for a lot of issues having to do with institutionalized racism, parents' education, nutrition, quality of schools, and exposure to environmental toxins, is that one ends up with meaningless tests that don't do what we need the test for, like measuring academic achievement or predicting future performance. The attempts to do this have been in the direction of creating "culture free-culture fair" tests like the Raven Indices. This is a completely non-verbal test. The problems that have emerged are that these tests don't seem to measure or predict anything, which is usually what one is trying to do by testing. Kathleen Bombach
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