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Cultural and social norms may influence how test-takers understand and interpret the wording of test questions.  Assessments given in a language not the student’s primary language may influence the scores.  Students may appear to be culturally acclimated, yet their primary language is not English and they may struggle with assessment items; when assessments are given early in the year teachers may not yet be aware the student is struggling with language itself.

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Does the assessment measure what it intends to measure.

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Does the assessment  used collect accurate, consistent results.  If the same students take the assessment again will the results be similar, not only for individual students but also the relationship among the student groups.

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"The psychometric standards of reliability and validity are central to any successful reading assessment. Yet these aspects of assessment must share the stage with our consideration of the consequences, usefulness, and associated roles and responsibilities of particular reading assessments"(Afflerbach, 2018).

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Educational assessment companies go to great lengths to determine that their products are valid and reliable, and advertise them as such.

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Interesting item to note, “If the test is administered in English and is timed, it is likely that such a student will have more difficulties than if the test is in English, but untimed.” (Kim, Zabelina 2015)  Therefore, whenever possible to increase the reliability of the assessment, students should not have time limits imposed when being assessed. Allowing use of dictionaries will also help students of differing cultures to perform better.

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Various cultures have differing linguistic patterns, therefore it’s beneficial for teachers to be familiar with the common language patterns and phrasing of standardized test questions. When standardized assessments are required, teachers can assist students with practicing language development prior to the assessment—not for “teaching to the test” but for improving overall language development which then should translate to better comprehension of assessment questions.

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When teachers are able to accommodate for their students cultural backgrounds, and are aware of the test taking needs, the validity of the assessment scores for all students increases. . Be aware of all potential sources of cultural bias—including those that may be present within themselves   Training in culturally responsive pedagogy within teacher education programs would be beneficial

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Considerations for professional practice and support of classroom teachers includes additional training in culturally responsive pedagogy and awareness that alternative assessments can be considered more culturally fair than some standardized assessments.     “Power tests that measure how much the students know are considered more culturally fair than speed tests that measure how much the students answer correctly within a time limit. Oral instructions are more culturally fair than written instructions, non-verbal contents are more culturally fair than verbal contents, and familiar contents to the students are more culturally fair than unfamiliar contents. Therefore, among alternative assessments, the most culturally fair assessments would be non-timed, hands-on performance assessment on familiar contents with oral instructions, such as group projects, informal assessments, or interviews”.   (Kim, Zabelina  2015)

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* Additional training in culturally
responsive teaching practices and
pedagogy both within teacher
education programs and through
ongoing professional
development.

* Encourage language development
skills, especially in younger
students, culturally diverse
students, English language
learners and learners with special
needs.  Have a stimulating
language rich environment that
not only will increase reading
abilities and a love for reading, but
better prepare students for
language and information on
standardized reading
assessments.

* While encouraging a “do your
best” philosophy, encourage not
instilling the “high stakes”
attitudes currently prevalent in
some areas and with some
assessments.

* Encourage increased training and
use of informal assessments for
all students-group work,
observations, journals etc in order
to have a more complete picture
of all students capabilities and
possible needs for interventions.

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In conclusion, there are many factors that may influence reading assessment scores.  Teachers must be aware of the many areas that can impact reading assessment scores and do their best to mitigate these whenever possible.  Assessments are a “snapshot” in time, and while valuable in some ways, a well informed teacher will look at the student as a whole and take all tools available to them to make an accurate assessment of the student and their strengths, weaknesses and needs.

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Standardized assessments are typically norm-referenced, comparing students to others in the same grade.  This does not take into account cultural differences or potentially a lack of background knowledge.  Assessments tend to be restricted to cognitive strategies and skills, and while important, they do not assess if the student is motivated and loves to read, if they have good reading habits, or if they believe they are “successful readers”.  A student may be classified as “below average” when norm referenced and compared to other students, yet that score may indicate impressive progress individually. (Afflerbach, 2016).    This can be addressed, if necessary, by concentrating on the progress the student has made and point out other positives, for example their interests in books and reading.

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While prior studies established relationships between background knowledge and reading comprehension, Awabdy’s study examined the relationship in the context of standardized reading assessments. It was found that background knowledge did indeed have a positive effect on comprehension performance on the California Star Test (Awabdy, 2012).

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An assessment can be reliable (yielding consistent results) and not be valid (not measuring the intended targets), however an assessment cannot be valid if it’s not reliable!

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Afflerbach, P.  (2016, Jan/Feb) Reading assessment: looking ahead. The Reading Teacher Vol. 69 Issue 4 pp. 413–419 http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/117050/chapters/Important-Issues-and-Concepts-in-Reading-Assessment.aspx

Afflerbach, P. (2018) Understanding and Using Reading Assessment, K–12, 3rd Edition  http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/117050/chapters/Important-Issues-and-Concepts-in-Reading-Assessment.aspx

Awabdy, G.  (2012). Background Knowledge and Its Effect on Standardized Reading Comprehension Test Performance
https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/etd/ucb/text/Awabdy_berkeley_0028E_12274.pdf

International Literacy Association. (2017). The roles of standardized reading tests in schools [Literacy leadership brief].  https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-roles-standardized-reading-tests-in-schools.pdf?sfvrsn=c6ada58e_4

Kim, K.H., Zabelina, D.  Cultural bias in assessment: Can creativity assessment help?

International Journal of Critical Pedagogy    Vol 6  No.2, 2015

Popham, J.W.  (1999, March).  Why standardized tests don’t measure educational quality.  Educational Leadership Vol 56 Number 6  http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/ mar99/
vol56/num06/Why-Standardized-Tests-Don%27t-Measure-Educational-Quality.aspx