Classroom Assessment and Diversity

Classroom assessments are a fundamental part of the daily lives of students. Teachers spend from one third to one half of their time in assessment-related activities. Students use their performances on assessments to judge their abilities and self-worth. When classroom assessments are of poor quality, teachers are likely to make poor instructional decisions, and students will not be able to judge their own progress. One critical aspect of assessment quality is the degree to which it is appropriate for the diversity of students in the [Page 390]classroom. This can be called cultural sensitivity. Its inverse is often called cultural bias.

Educational publishers have developed careful processes to ensure that instructional materials are appropriate for diverse students. Yet, despite the fact that teachers use published classroom assessments as their primary tool for determining student achievement, educational publishers rarely test the quality of classroom assessments. Nor do they evaluate the appropriateness of classroom assessments for a diverse population of students. In a retrospective on the state of classroom-based assessments, Richard Stiggins noted that although billions of dollars have been spent on district, state, national, and international standardized tests, nothing has been done to ensure the quality of assessments that occur in a student's daily life.

This entry explains why classroom assessments should be closely examined for biases that might detract from students' performances. It gives a brief description of the strategies used by publishers and large-scale test developers to review instructional materials for potential biases. It presents themes from deliberations of a bias and sensitivity review (BSR) committee to illustrate the subtle ways that bias and cultural insensitivity can creep into assessment materials. Finally, based on the ideas derived from publisher practices and the more nuanced themes from the BSR panel, it proposes strategies for creating or modifying classroom-based assessments so that they are appropriate for students from diverse backgrounds.