The selection and interpretation of individually administered norm-referenced cognitive tests that are administered to culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students continue to be an important consideration within the psychoeducational assessment process. Understanding test directions during the assessment of cognitive abilities is…

The purpose of test directions is to familiarize examinees with a test so that they respond to items in the manner intended. However, changes in educational measurement as well as the U.S. student population present new challenges to test directions and increase the impact that differential familiarity could have on the validity of test score…

Describes the dual-focus approach to creating bilingual measures. This approach includes indigenous researchers from the culture studied as members of a team to develop a concept-driven, rather than translation-driven, research plan and protocol. Illustrates the approach with examples of creating new measures in Spanish and English. (SLD)

Often, educational and psychological measurement instruments must be translated from one language to another when they are administered to different cultural groups. The translation process often necessarily introduces measurement inequivalence. Therefore, an examination may be said to exhibit differential functioning if the test provides a…

This digest introduces three issues to consider when evaluating test items for bias: fairness, bias, and stereotyping. In any bias investigation, the first step is to identify the subgroups of interest. Bias reviews and studies generally focus on differential performance for sex, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups. In preparing an item bias…

Whether differences in mean scores among gender and racial/ethnic groups on science performance assessments are comparable to those for traditional tests was studied with 2,000 students in grades five, six, and nine. Overall, results suggest that the type of test has little effect on these differences in scores. (SLD)

Issues affecting measures that are translated or adapted from an initial language or culture to a new one are described. Notions of test validation, fairness, and norms are addressed, and it is argued that such adaptations may be necessary when assessing members of subpopulations of the U.S. culture. (SLD)