Is there a Cultural Bias in Standardized Tests? Part 1

I have read and heard many times that there is a cultural bias in standardized tests which affect how well black children do on such tests. Some examples given to clarify the bias include references to boats and yachts and other things the average African-American child does not have access to and therefore could not be expected to know about. Or knowing synonyms that aren't commonly used in black neighborhoods, for example rummage sale instead of garage sale. I'm still not sure...I understand the examples, they makes sense somewhat, but to say a test is culturally biased based on that, I don't know. I grew up in a suburb-type neighborhood, ok, but nobody I knew had a boat. It's not like the white kids had this other life that included yachts and stuff like that. We knew the names for different parts of boats not from personal experience, but because we were taught them at school. Came up in a story of something, I can't recall. Same with learning different names for things, like garage sale/rummage sale and stuff like that...it seems so many children are being denied basic education like learning synonyms and being exposed to other worlds through reading. That is so wrong.

I think black kids would be much better off if we insisted that our children receive the same education that most white kids get, insisted that all children received the same type and level of education. Because as things are now, it seems to me that children of color, especially black children, are not lagging on standardized tests so much because of cultural differences but because they are in school systems that are willfully deny them a decent education. What do you think?

This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Personal Growth for Black People!

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