Fortunately, such tools exist, one of them being differential item functioning (DIF) analysis. While we cannot fully eliminate disparities in test-taking populations that are a result of centuries of systemic inequality (Lucey and Saguil, 2020), we can, and should, make use of statistical and psychometric tools to identify test items that contribute to the problem and remove them.
In response to this issue the University of California System decided this year to no longer make use of the ACT and SAT for admission purposes (Rio, 2021).Īs educational testing professionals, we have a responsibility to address these concerns through quality improvements to educational assessments, making them as fair and impartial as possible, to reduce and attempt to eliminate the test score gap that is consistently seen between privileged and marginalized groups of students (Jencks & Phillips, 1998). In the past year, criticism against standardized testing has coalesced around the issue of test inequality-namely that educational assessments used here in North America and around the world (Miranda, 2020) systematically discriminate against marginalized groups of students, such as Black, Latino, and low income students (Koljatic et al., 2021 Sireci, 2021). The use of high-stakes educational assessments is increasingly in hot water.
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