Local Group Claims Tests Are Biased

This spring, female juniors all over America are sharpening their number two pencils, placing all books and papers beneath their seats and scoring lower than their male counterparts on what many have charged are biased tests.

Over the years, women have consistently scored lower on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Tests (PSAT) than men, from 30 to 80 points lower (within racial categories), according to The Princeton Review.

The Cambridge-based National Center of Fair and Open Testing (Fair Test) said in a study released yesterday that this difference is the result of gender biased questions. Fair Test says that this bias not only impairs fair college admissions processes, but also denies women the chance to win the financial awards offered in the National Merit Scholarship competition, since the qualification for award is based upon test scores.

"Young women lose their fair share of more than $25,000,000 in prestigious awards each year solely due to the use of a biased test," said Fair Test's Executive Director Dr. Pamela Zappardino.

According to FairTest, while 56% who took the PSAT in 1994 were female, only 42% of National Merit Semifinalists are female. Semifinalists are chosen solely on the basis of test scores.

Brett A. Gordon, Executive Director of the Boston Office of The Princeton Review, agrees that the tests exhibit gender bias.

"FairTest is right. The PSAT is definitely biased in favor of men and penalizes women at both SAT and PSAT levels," Gordon said.

"[Bias in the test] has a lot to do with the way questions work. Here's an analogy that's been used in the past--racquet is to tennis, as: spring board is to diving; horse is to polo;glove is to boxing; club is to golf; gun is to hunting. First, racial discrimination is a problem. I am a middle-class white male, and I know what polo is, but someone in the inner-city might not know. And like it or not, males tend to know more about sports," Gordon said.

"Math questions tend to talk about averages, and if a person knows somethingabout baseball, they will do better on thosequestions," he added.

Gordon also denounced the test for its failureto accurately predict future performance.

"Women, on average, perform one full gradepoint higher than men in college, so the testobviously cannot predict [future performance],"Gordon said.

But representatives of The College Board, theorganization that administers the PSAT and theSAT, blamed women's lower scores on poorpreparation and environmental factors, not testbias.

"The test is not biased," Assistant Director inPublic Affairs for The College Board Greg C. Busbysaid. "It is a simplistic leap to assume thatbecause girls don't score as well that the test isbiased."

"The reason [women don't do well] is that girlstend to take courses that award higher grades,like art, music and languages, and men tend totake more rigorous science and math courses,"Busby said. "Historically speaking, women havebeen encouraged to take classes like home ec,music and languages rather than science and math."

Vocabulary Scores

When asked why women don't do as well onvocabulary as men do, even though they have hadbetter preparation in languages, Busby replied:"Women do not do as well on vocabulary because menhave been exposed to more vocabulary words in theother classes. The vocab section takes vocabularyfrom all different types of curriculum."

"I think how society views women and men andthe fact that men are encouraged to go on [toupper level math and science courses]...that hasto change before we'll see any differences in testscores," he added.

Gordon took a very different stance. Hesuggested that changing the tests would decreasethe gender gap substantially.

"How do you change it? You get rid of questionsthat talk about polo," he said. "You look at thequestions, determine who they are geared to andmake sure you're not going to give any one groupan advantage."

"[Educational Testing Services] and The CollegeBoard don't have any incentive to change the test,other than to get themselves off the hot seat,"Gordon continued. "It's parents, students andcolleges who have to say that we can't use thetest because they are biased, that the tests haveto change."

Director of Admissions and Financial Aid MarlynMcGrath Lewis '70, however, said Harvard'sadmissions process is not affected by thisdiscrepancy in test scores and National MeritScholarship awards.

"In our admission process, we look at a numberof factors very closely. Test scores, high schoolrecord, enthusiastic recommendations are allconsidered," said Lewis. "Test scores are neverdecisive. We would be foolish to base thisdecision on one factor. Test scores are not usedin any formulaic way."

Lewis said the admissions office recognizedthat men do better on standardized tests thanwomen.

"Women here, as a group, have slightly lowertest scores. They do at any school. That doesn'tmean they aren't as strong academically or won'tdo as well here," she said.

Because of Harvard's financial aid procedures,women are not punished for their poorerperformance in the National Merit Scholarshipcompetition, McGrath said.

"We are in the happy position of basing aid ondemonstrated need. A student who came with acertain amount of scholarship money will receiveless aid, and a student without scholarship moneywill receive more," she added

Gordon also denounced the test for its failureto accurately predict future performance.

"Women, on average, perform one full gradepoint higher than men in college, so the testobviously cannot predict [future performance],"Gordon said.

But representatives of The College Board, theorganization that administers the PSAT and theSAT, blamed women's lower scores on poorpreparation and environmental factors, not testbias.

"The test is not biased," Assistant Director inPublic Affairs for The College Board Greg C. Busbysaid. "It is a simplistic leap to assume thatbecause girls don't score as well that the test isbiased."

"The reason [women don't do well] is that girlstend to take courses that award higher grades,like art, music and languages, and men tend totake more rigorous science and math courses,"Busby said. "Historically speaking, women havebeen encouraged to take classes like home ec,music and languages rather than science and math."

Vocabulary Scores

When asked why women don't do as well onvocabulary as men do, even though they have hadbetter preparation in languages, Busby replied:"Women do not do as well on vocabulary because menhave been exposed to more vocabulary words in theother classes. The vocab section takes vocabularyfrom all different types of curriculum."

"I think how society views women and men andthe fact that men are encouraged to go on [toupper level math and science courses]...that hasto change before we'll see any differences in testscores," he added.

Gordon took a very different stance. Hesuggested that changing the tests would decreasethe gender gap substantially.

"How do you change it? You get rid of questionsthat talk about polo," he said. "You look at thequestions, determine who they are geared to andmake sure you're not going to give any one groupan advantage."

"[Educational Testing Services] and The CollegeBoard don't have any incentive to change the test,other than to get themselves off the hot seat,"Gordon continued. "It's parents, students andcolleges who have to say that we can't use thetest because they are biased, that the tests haveto change."

Director of Admissions and Financial Aid MarlynMcGrath Lewis '70, however, said Harvard'sadmissions process is not affected by thisdiscrepancy in test scores and National MeritScholarship awards.

"In our admission process, we look at a numberof factors very closely. Test scores, high schoolrecord, enthusiastic recommendations are allconsidered," said Lewis. "Test scores are neverdecisive. We would be foolish to base thisdecision on one factor. Test scores are not usedin any formulaic way."

Lewis said the admissions office recognizedthat men do better on standardized tests thanwomen.

"Women here, as a group, have slightly lowertest scores. They do at any school. That doesn'tmean they aren't as strong academically or won'tdo as well here," she said.

Because of Harvard's financial aid procedures,women are not punished for their poorerperformance in the National Merit Scholarshipcompetition, McGrath said.

"We are in the happy position of basing aid ondemonstrated need. A student who came with acertain amount of scholarship money will receiveless aid, and a student without scholarship moneywill receive more," she added