Biasing Influences on Test Level Assignments for Hearing Impaired Students

Abstract

The possible biasing influences of student characteristics were considered for teachers' judgments of appropriate test level assignments for their students. Approximately 1,300 hearing-impaired, special education students were assigned one of six difficulty levels of the Stanford Achievement Test in 1974 and reassigned a test level in 1979. Teachers were aware of the performance levels of their students and were asked to consider full test performance and screening test performance in the development of 1979 level assignments. Log-linear analyses of the data indicated the presence of strong influences of race and severity of handicapping condition, as well as of sex, upon change in level assignments, independent of achievement performance. White students, students with a less severe hearing impairment, and female students experienced disproportionately more advancements in test level assignment. The role of teacher expectancies, derived in response to salient student characteristics, was considered as a possible influence on test level assignments.