Test bias and the culturally different early adolescent

Test bias has been defined as a phenomenon in which the effects of a given test result in negative outcomes for a given person because that person is identified with a certain group (Sedlacek, 1976). As this paper is specifically concerned with test bias and the culturally different, the latter should be defined as individuals "from lower socioeconomic groups who may also be members of a minority group" (Brown, no date). On IQ tests, blacks generally score one standard deviation below whites, and low-income Hispanics also score below average (Laosa, 1976). Test bias can be manifested in all or any of the following: 1) content bias, 2) atmosphere bias, and/or 3) use bias (Sedlacek, 1976). A discussion of each follows.