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ased. 56 They are modeled and normed on a generally
white, middle-class population and are heavily
reliant on verbal ability. Scores on many subtests of
skills are averaged together to get an overall score.
Thus, if a child is uncomfortable in the testing situation,
does not respond exactly to the ways in which
information is asked, has trouble with verbal ability,
or is weak in some areas but not in others,
chances are he will score poorly on standardized
tests. How poorly he scores may determine his special
class placement. Such gross measurement of
children's potential may doom a child to be misclassilled
and thereby not receive the specific attention
to problems he or she needs.
The problem of cultural bias in tests is particularly
acute for children who have difficulty with the English
language. Often their silence, inattentiveness
or inability to fully participate in class is interpreted
as slowness or retardation. One EMR teacher in
Massachusetts described his own experience with
three limited English-speaking children in his program.
One child, Maria, spoke broken English but
had "no problem." She was in a bilingual class and
it is unclear how she ended up in the EMR program.
She has been in the EMR program for four to five
years. Roberto, a Portuguese child, has been in the
program for two years. He is apathetic and will do
the minimum to get by but is probably not retarded.
Earlier in the year (1973-74) a Spanish-speaking
16 year old was placed into the class. The teacher
was enraged because it was immediately evident that
he was very bright. He read beautifully in Spanish.
Poor performance on tests administered in English
may confirm the hypothesis that special education is
needed. The dearth of tests in other languages, or
03 Appendix N, Table I includes a breakdown for the 15
districts reporting to OCR in the fall of 1973 of the number
of children, by race and ethnic group, enrolled in the
various types of special education programs categorized
by OCR.
54 Interview with Charles Brinkman, Director of Special
Education, State Department of Education, Regional Education
Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, 8115/73.
55 Interviews with Martha White, Special Education Coordinator,
Montgomery, Alabama, 1/10/74 and 1/11/74.
56 The literature criticizing the use of IQ and other stand·
ardized tests for labeling students is large. For a good
discussion of cultural factors involved in assessing performance
and competence see Michael Cole, et aI., The Cui­
IUral Context of Learning and Thinking (New York: Basic
Books, 1971).
trained bilingual personnel to administer and interpret
them, compounds the problem. Our Haitian
child Philippe faced just such errors simply because
he spoke French, not English. Puerto Rican and
Mexican-American children are disproportionately
found to be diagnosed and placed in special education
classes for the same reasons. 57
Jane Mercer's work shows that "white students
typically must display both intellectual and behavior
quirks to be considered for special classification while
intellectual difficulties alone are sufficient to render
black or Mexican-American students suspect."58
When retested in their own language, or when other
criteria are added to test scores, a large percentage
of these minority students are not found retarded
and have returned to regular classes. 59
Despite these drawbacks, standardized tests continue
to dominate assessment procedures. A Denver
school board member says that while the
principal, teacher, and social worker jointly make
decisions about special education placement, "IQ is
used as the basis for making the decision."60 Another
Denver official disagrees: "We thought they
were being abused so we make them, optional. A
teacher can order an IQ test with the principal's
approval."61 Because of the high percentage of black
children in special education in Davenport, Iowa,
some school officials have become aware of possible
problems of cultural bias in the tests used. Purportedly
they are less likely to place a black child
with 73 IQ than a white child with 73 IQ in special
education. One school official said, "There's an at-
57 See "A Descriptive Study of Three Legal Challenges for
Placing Mexican-American and Other Linguistically and
Culturally Different Children into Educably Mentally Retarded
Classes," a dissertation presented by Henry I. Casso
to the Graduate School of Education of the University
of Massachusetts, March, 1973.
58 Mercer's work is summarized in an article hy David Kirp,
William Buss, and Peter Kuriloff, "Legal Reform of Special
Education," California Law Review, Vol. 62 (January)
1974, p. 45. For the consequences of such tests for minority
people, particularly the non"English speaking, see
Jane 'Mercer, Labeling the Mentally Retarded (Berkeley,
California: University of California Press, 1973).
59 See results of Hobson v. Hansen, supra at 490-91, and
examples in Mercer.
60 Interview with Mrs. Kay Schomp, Member, Board of
Education, Denver, Colorado, 11/1/73.
61 Interview with Dr. Gerald P. Cavanaugh, Supervisor,
Testing and Pupil Records, Denver, Colorado, 11/5/73.
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