Criterion-related bias with the guide to the assessment of test-session behavior for the WISC-III and WIAT: Possible race/ethnicity, gender, and SES effects

doi:10.1016/0022-4405(94)90033-7

Journal of School Psychology

Volume 32, Issue 4, Winter 1994, Pages 355-369

https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-4405(94)90033-7 Get rights and content

Abstract

Using the Guide to the Assessment of Test-Session Behavior for the WISC-III and WIAT (GATSB), Anglo examiners recorded test observations for 969 children between the ages of 6 and 16 years. The children came from the standardization and validity-study samples of GATSB ratings completed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WISC-III) (Wechsler, 1991). The sample differed by race (Anglo, black, Latino), socioeconomic status (SES) (high, middle, low), and gender. GATSB ratings and WISC-III Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs were compared. Correlations between the GATSB and WISC-III were generally moderate (average r = -.27). Children who exhibited higher levels of avoidance, inattentiveness, and uncooperative behaviors while being tested tended to exhibit lower WISC-III scores. This pattern held true for Anglos, blacks, and Latinos; for girls and boys; and for those from high-, middle-, and low-SES homes. Evidence was generally absent that Anglo examiners display bias in black-Anglo, gender, or SES comparisons. However, consistent differences were noted between Latino and Anglo children. Examiners tended to rate Latinos as displaying better test behaviors than Anglos when children's IQs were below average, but comparable when IQs were average and above. Thus, the GATSB generally displayed similar intrasession validities for children who differ by race/ethnicity, gender, and SES.

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This chapter reviews qualities that may impact a child's test performance and discusses in detail those qualities found through research to have a measurable influence on the performance. An examiner's observations are critical to all features of test use. Their observations enable them to accurately record children's responses to test items. Moreover, information obtained through observations enables examiners to better understand the manner in which children arrive at their answers and to identify cognitive and other personal strengths and weaknesses, thus facilitating test interpretations. Examiners are responsible for ensuring that the testing room provides a comfortable and distraction-free testing environment. Furniture should be of appropriate height and comfortable to the children. Their attention and concentration should not be attenuated by auditory and visual distractions. Language qualities also figure importantly. Most measures of cognitive abilities rely on language to form a bridge between the examiner and examinee, enabling them to communicate. Although the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) is not intended to assess language directly, the quality and nature of children's language can facilitate or impede test use.
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Criterion-related bias with the guide to the assessment of test-session behavior for the WISC-III and WIAT: Possible race/ethnicity, gender, and SES effects

Abstract

Journal of School Psychology

Test Behavior Observation Guide

Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences

The many definitions of test bias

American Psychologist

Generality of test-session observations to kindergartners' classroom behavior

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

Guide to the Assessment of Test-Session Behavior for the WISC-III and WIAT

Factorial similarity of the WISC-R for White and Black children from the standardization sample

Journal of Educational Psychology

Statistical definitions of test validity for minority groups

Journal of Applied Psychology

Bias in mental testing

Measurement and design issues in research on the assessment of children

The observation and classification of exceptional child behavior