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Dennis,
Thanks! That's exactly right, or more precisely my reading of the study too: This study detected stratification of test results because of SES.  They statistically demonstrate test result variability as a result of SES,an then divergence from this finding at wealthier levels of SES for unexplained reasons. 

Optimistically, test results vary and everybody given the right opportunities and freedom from hunger and want, learns.  Depressingly, PISA, which I believe was formulated to account for this type of correlation, is shown to be subject to similar biases, which is a point of their comprehensive study.

C

Apologies if anyone receives this message twice  I can't really tell when a messages goes through or rejected for some odd reason, sometimes they're both rejected and sent with a time delay.



On Mar 21, 2013, at 1:43 PM, Dennis Bartels <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Charlie,
> 
> In fact the findings and research is even more insidious and nuanced.  There is a great deal of research on the subject going back 50 years, and exemplified by the great debates in the 1960s with the New Deal in a series of government studies done by Dr. Jim Coleman (i.e., the Coleman Studies) which essentially established the strongest link between test scores and any other factor, including teachers and schools, was SES.  It's been hotly debated every since.  Here is the insidious part, and then the nuanced part.  
> 
> The insidious part is for many years people treated these infamous studies as if demography is destiny.  In other words, that children from poorer backgrounds cannot learn as well or as fast as kids from more affluent backgrounds.  However, later cognitive research and empirical studies demonstrating many counter examples renewed our optimism and beliefs that indeed every human no matter background has similar learning potentials, excluding serious cognitive disorders.  So SES can and has been overcome many times over.  
> 
> Now the nuanced part.  Why the tight correlation between SES and standardized test scores (which I note here is NOT the same thing as learning or learning potential).  Subsequent analysis of standardized testing has revealed that external-referenced standardized tests (e.g., tests used that are not directly tied to the curriculum taught but created somewhere outside of schools) always have a SES bias, including PISA.  Why?  Well, if the tests are not curriculum dependent (say for sake of contrast like end of course exams or AP exams, which are highly curriculum dependent), who decides what a 3rd grader should know?  
> 
> Why some psychometrician somewhere, of course!  And if the tests are not tied to classroom learning, but external references, such as how many legs does a spider have--if I was never taught that in school, who has a better chance of answering that question correctly, a affluent kids with access to all kinds of media and TV, or a poor kid who might not even have a TV or been to a summer camp or Exploratorium?  
> 
> Of course we all know the answer to that question.  So ALL that standardized tests (read non-curriculum or non-school dependent tests) measure is a perfect proxy FOR SES!  Ta-da!
> 
> It's amazingly circular and I'm stunned more people don't know about this consistent result and that researchers still feel a need to verify it!
> 
> The more important question is why anyone feels like these standardized tests are useful measures of anything BUT SES.
> 
> Dennis
> 
> PS:  If you really want a scandal, read a well-written New Yorker article a few years back on Stanley Kaplan and the founding of the Kaplan Studies program back in the early 20th century.  That will really make you stomach turn!
> 
> 
> 
> Dennis M. Bartels, Ph.D.
> Executive Director
> Piers 15/17
> San Francisco, CA 94111
> [log in to unmask]
> 415-528-4326
> 
> facebook.com/exploratorium | twitter.com/exploratorium
> youtube.com/exploratorium
> 



Charles Carlson
Senior Scientist | Teacher Institute

http://blogs.exploratorium.edu/whyintercept/
Twitter: @charliec53
email: [log in to unmask] 
Tel:   415-528-4319
Fax:  415-885-6011
exploratorium.edu
facebook.com/exploratorium twitter.com/exploratorium
The Embarcadero, Piers15 & 17
S.F., CA 94111





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