Question

Dr. Carey gives a variety of achievement and aptitude tests to 1000 ten-year-old children from Southside Elementary School and 1000 ten-year-old children from Northside Elementary School. On average, the Southside students perform better on the tests than the Northside students. Dr. Carey concludes that teachers at Southside are superior to those at Northside. Is this conclusion warranted? Why or why not?

Answer 1

• Dr. Carey’s conclusion is not warranted because he has failed to control for other possible explanations for the differences in test scores (class size, curriculum, educational backgrounds of the parents, etc.).
• Factors beyond the teachers' control, like family economics and parental support, could affect test results. Furthermore, Northside may have teachers who are just as effective as teachers at Southside, but test results may prove otherwise because Northside may be in a less affluent area, adding extra stress to those children.
• Test items focus on a limited set of skills that are important in mainstream Western culture, and particularly in school settings; they do not necessarily tap into skills that may be more highly valued in other contexts or other societies.
• Also, students with limited English proficiency are at an obvious disadvantage when an intelligence test is administered in English. Some students (minority students who want to avoid "acting white") may not be motivated to perform at their best and so may obtain scores that underestimate their capabilities. Furthermore, some students (e.g., those from certain ethnic groups) may not be familiar with the question-answer format that predominates in a typical testing situation: others may continually respond with "I don't know" option.