Professor Amy Wax, in an absolutely phenomenal WSJ Op-Ed, says that the answers to solving test score gaps are not easy, despite recent research suggesting that minority students falter mainly because of deep-rooted stereotypes. After noting that the existing "stereotype threat" research may be fundamentally flawed, Professor Wax lists the incorrect yet popular anti-testing assumptions that are at the root of much educational research today:
Lack of evidence and grave methodological defects haven't prevented the stereotype threat industry from taking off. Distortions are now pervasive. According to a survey by Mr. Sackett and his colleagues, 10 of 11 references to the threat in scientific journals, more than half the descriptions in psychology textbooks and 14 of 16 discussions in the media incorrectly state that racial differences in academic performance disappear when stereotype threat is eliminated. In this vein, a recent New York Times article on stereotype threat and the racial test-score gap declared that "performance is psychological." A Frontline special falsely stated that blacks who believe that a standardized test was merely a research tool, rather than a gauge of their abilities, performed just as well as whites.
Why the hyperbole? The belief that group performance differences can be laid at the door of stereotype threat is a grand exercise in wishful thinking that reveals a lot about the Zeitgeist. It fits with everything people desperately want to believe about standardized tests, learning and group differences in achievement.
• The first item of faith is that any assessment that reveals group differences must be biased, inaccurate and invalid. If scores can be lifted merely by adjusting attitudes or test conditions, then poor scores don't reflect real deficiencies in knowledge and ability and tests aren't an accurate measure of academic skill.
• The second notion is that groups don't really differ in academic proficiency or learning. Stereotype threat is a temporary brain freeze that covers up what students really know. If performance across groups can be equalized just by dispelling the test-takers' fear of being judged, then current disparities reflect no real group differences in learning or skill.
• Third, stereotype threat promises a quick fix for low achievement. We resist the idea that high test scores reflect dedicated study and good learning habits, that learning builds on itself over time, and that there may come a point when past deficits can't be made up. We want to believe that anyone can always catch up and that latent potential can be instantly unleashed if only the right formula is found.
• Finally, we resist confronting the social and behavioral causes of shortfalls in academic performance. Stark differences between groups in marriage rates, family stability, paternal involvement, parenting practices and discipline, and other habits and values, are associated with children's disparate academic success. Changing these requires sustained self-scrutiny and reform from within. We'd rather believe that underachievement comes from without. If only white society would stop stereotyping minority students as inferior, or expecting them to perform poorly, stereotype threat would abate and all would be well.
Emphasis mine. I bow to Professor Wax's thorough yet concise description. There's no better way to sum up the hysterical reaction to testing, and to the ethnically-charged achievement gap, that one sees almost everywhere these days. "A grand exercise in wishful thinking" - I'm going to have to use that phrase more often.
This is not to say that there are no legitimate criticisms of testing. Tests can be used improperly. Testing content can be inappropriate. Tests can be given too often, and the stakes can be set too high or too low. But every reporter who covers an exit exam or admissions exam controversy who unthinkingly prints the line, "Critics say such tests are biased...," should be forced to read Professor Wax's explanation of why bogus test bias theories abound, and should be forced to explain why they feel it's unnecessary to let their readers in on the reams of research demonstrating that a very real achievement gap underlies the legendary test score gap.
Her summary?
People who don't know how to read and do math can't function and lead in a demanding, technological society, regardless of the cause of those shortcomings. The insight that anxiety about stereotypes may influence minority students' real learning is not without implications. It suggests that encouragement and reassurance are a vital part of education. But in urging students to prove their detractors wrong, one key message should never get lost: What matters most in the end is what you know.
And in the end, if you know it, you can show it on a test, no matter what group you belong to.
(Thanks to Devoted Reader EGF for the link.)
Posted by kswygert at April 13, 2004 02:21 PM