Educational Psychology

warranted because tests are not always a fair assessment of the diverse variety of students, and many other factors besides the intelligence needed to take tests must be considered. For example, 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. Or perhaps Northside's population houses a majority of minority groups, thus making a comparison of teachers based on test scores of students unfair. 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" as a way of ending a seemingly unpleasant situation as quickly as possible. The last thing to consider is that the relationship between test scores and achievement is not a perfect one. For a variety of reasons, some students with high scores do not perform well in the classroom. And other students achieve at higher levels than we would predict from their test scores alone. Therefore, we should never base or expectations for students' achievement solely on test scores. The fact that Southside students scored higher than Northside students may simply mean that Southside students are better test takers, but it does not mean they are not better classroom achievers or do not receive good instruction.