Exploratory studies of bias in achievement tests

This paper considers the question of bias in group administered academic achieveMent tests, bias which is inherent in the instruments themselves. A body of data on the test of performance of three disadvantaged minority groups--northern, urban black; southern, rural black; and, southwestern, Mexican-Americans--as tryout samples in contrast to white, advantaged groups in the same regions, was analyzed using five different general methods for examining tests for bias. In an item tryout, a set of items is administered to a sample of the relevant population and the results are then examined item by item in an effort to pick the more effective items. The first method is an item selection routine using the point biserial correlation for each item as the criterion. The second method, group by score interactions, involves dividing the tryout group into, ' say, fourths, based on quartiles, and examinin