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Questions of Bias Are Raised About a Teachers’ Exam in New York
New York Times ^ | April 7, 2015 | Kate Taylor

Posted on 04/07/2015 7:33:31 PM PDT by reaganaut1

A federal judge is questioning whether a new exam for aspiring teachers in New York is discriminatory against minorities, a case that could derail the state’s efforts to create a more rigorous set of tests for entry into the profession.

Black and Hispanic applicants have been passing one of the exams, intended to measure reading and writing skills, at lower rates than white candidates, prompting concerns of decreased diversity in the teaching ranks.

The judge, Kimba M. Wood of Federal District Court in Manhattan, has asked the state for extensive documentation on the development of the test, which was first given during the 2013-14 school year.

The request came as part of a long-running case brought in 1996 by black and Hispanic teachers against New York City. In 2012, Judge Wood ruled that an older state-certification test, which was intended to measure teachers’ knowledge of the liberal arts and science, was racially discriminatory.

Although compensation has not yet been awarded, the city is expected to have to pay back wages to several thousand teachers who were demoted to being substitutes from the early 1990s to 2004, or were never hired as full-time teachers because they did not pass the older test.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Joshua Sohn, a partner at Mishcon de Reya New York, said that he did not know if the new test, the Academic Literacy Skills Test, was discriminatory. But, he said, given the fact that blacks and Hispanics are passing the test at lower levels than whites, “the court has an obligation to ensure that the historical discrimination is not continuing.”

The State Education Department declined to comment on the judge’s request, citing the pending litigation.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: New York
KEYWORDS: bellcurve; education; kimbawood; teachers
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On what standardized tests do the races score the same?

Since the average IQs of American Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks are 100, 90, and 85, any academic test will have a "disparate impact".

1 posted on 04/07/2015 7:33:31 PM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

Perhaps there just might be a reason other than bias, NYT.

Think about it.

Oh, forgot, you are journalists.

Too bad you didn’t get a real major in college.


2 posted on 04/07/2015 7:45:51 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: reaganaut1

Is that THE Kimba Wood, of failed appointment to US AG, because she turned out to be too sane for Hillary?


3 posted on 04/07/2015 7:46:05 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: lepton
Is that THE Kimba Wood, of failed appointment to US AG, because she turned out to be too sane for Hillary?

And too good looking to be trusted anywhere near Bill IIRC

4 posted on 04/07/2015 7:50:24 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: reaganaut1

Why do we continue to insist upon sacrificing excellence on the altar equality?


5 posted on 04/07/2015 7:53:02 PM PDT by Saltmeat
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To: reaganaut1
wonder how the Asians fared, i don't see them whining
6 posted on 04/07/2015 7:54:41 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -w- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: reaganaut1

“A federal judge is questioning whether a new exam for aspiring teachers in New York is discriminatory against minorities,”

It must be a real and hard test that actually does what it’s
supposed to do.

“Black and Hispanic applicants have been passing one of the exams, intended to measure reading and writing skills, at lower rates than white candidates, prompting concerns of decreased diversity in the teaching ranks.”

Diversity trumps actually being qualified for the job.
So we dumb down American society to accommodate diversity.
We are only allowed to be as smart as the dumbest teacher
that barely passed the teacher test. That’s how they set
speed limits, so the dumbest drivers who barely passed the
driving test can drive safely. It’s why government only
hires the unemployable. Diversity = a dumb society.


7 posted on 04/07/2015 8:21:20 PM PDT by Slambat
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To: reaganaut1
If fewer Hispanics and blacks are passing the tests than whites...it is obviously the fault of the test......where the hell does that asinine thinking come from??????

Doesn't anyone ever say that maybe it is because the whites paid attention in school and actually prepared for the test???

8 posted on 04/07/2015 8:32:17 PM PDT by terycarl (common sense prevails over all)
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To: reaganaut1
In 2005, 153,132 Black Americans took the SAT test.
They made up 10.4 percent of all SAT test takers. But only 1,132 Black college-bound students scored 700 or above on the math SAT and only 1,205 scored at least 700 on the verbal SAT.
Nationally, more than 100,000 students of all races scored 700 or above on the math SAT and 78,025 students scored 700 or above on the verbal SAT. Thus, in this top-scoring category of all SAT test takers, Blacks made up only 1.1 percent of the students scoring 700 or higher on the math test and only 1.5 percent of the students scoring 700 or higher on the verbal SAT.

If we eliminate Asians and other minorities from the statistics and compare just White and Black students, we find that 5.8 percent of all White SAT test takers scored 700 or above on the verbal portion of the test. But only 0.79 percent of all Black SAT test takers scored at this level. Therefore, Whites were more than seven times as likely as Blacks to score 700 or above on the verbal SAT. Overall, there are more than 39 times as many Whites as Blacks who scored at least 700 on the verbal SAT.

On the math SAT, only 0.7 percent of all Black test takers scored at least 700 compared to 6.3 percent of all White test takers. Thus, Whites were nine times as likely as Blacks to score 700 or above on the math SAT. Overall, there were 45 times as many Whites as Blacks who scored 700 or above on the math SAT.

If we raise the top-scoring threshold to students scoring 750 or above on both the math and verbal SAT — a level equal to the mean score of students entering the nation's most selective colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, and CalTech — we find that in the entire country 244 Blacks scored 750 or above on the math SAT and 363 Black students scored 750 or above on the verbal portion of the test. Nationwide, 33,841 students scored at least 750 on the math test and 30,479 scored at least 750 on the verbal SAT. Therefore, Black students made up 0.7 percent of the test takers who scored 750 or above on the math test and 1.2 percent of all test takers who scored 750 or above on the verbal section.

Once again, if we eliminate Asians and other minorities from the calculations and compare only Blacks and Whites, we find that 0.2 percent of all Black test takers scored 750 or above on the verbal SAT compared to 2.2 percent of all White test takers. Thus, Whites were 11 times as likely as Blacks to score 750 or above on the verbal portion of the test. Overall, there were 49 times as many Whites as Blacks who scored at or above the 750 level.

On the math SAT, only 0.16 percent of all Black test takers scored 750 or above compared to 1.8 percent of White test takers. Thus, Whites were more than 11 times as likely as Blacks to score 750 or above on the math SAT. Overall, there were more than 61 times as many Whites as Blacks who scored 750 or above on the math section of the SAT.

In a race-neutral competition for the approximately 50,000 places for first-year students at the nation's 25 top-ranked universities, high-scoring Blacks would be buried by a huge mountain of high-scoring non-Black students. Today, under prevailing affirmative-action admissions policies there are about 3,000 Black first-year students matriculating at these 25 high-ranking universities, about 6 percent of all first-year students at these institutions. But if these schools operated under a strict race-neutral admissions policy where SAT scores were the most important qualifying yardstick, these universities could fill their freshman classes almost exclusively with students who score at the very top of the SAT scoring scale. As shown previously, Black students make up at best between 1 and 2 percent of these high-scoring groups.

9 posted on 04/07/2015 8:32:27 PM PDT by Larry381 (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act)
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To: reaganaut1

Did they write the test in English?


10 posted on 04/07/2015 8:35:50 PM PDT by bravo whiskey (we shouldn't fear the government. the government should fear us.)
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To: reaganaut1; MeshugeMikey

Asking teaches to sign their paperwork in cursive is racist!


11 posted on 04/07/2015 8:36:10 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Funny how Hollywood's 'No Nukes' crowd has been silent during Obama's Iranian nuclear negotiations.)
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.; lepton
Both possibly true, but her bigger problem was that she believed her illegal housekeepers didn't need to pay taxes... and was the second nominee for AG with that particular skeleton in her closet.
12 posted on 04/07/2015 8:47:00 PM PDT by FredZarguna (It looks just like a Telefunken U-47 -- with leather.)
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To: Larry381

All that and African-Americans comprised 76.3 percent of all NBA players.

And I could not get a tryout for the NBA.

Perhaps I was discriminated against!
Where’s my payout?

http://www.tidesport.org/RGRC/2013/2013_NBA_RGRC.pdf


13 posted on 04/07/2015 8:47:05 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (BINGO!)
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To: bravo whiskey

I definitely can see their point if the test was written in cursive.


14 posted on 04/07/2015 9:10:14 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: reaganaut1

What a bunch of hoo-ha. I took that exam, and received 292 points out of a possible 300. Biased? Only if you can’t read, write, or use math very well.


15 posted on 04/07/2015 9:40:10 PM PDT by EinNYC
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To: reaganaut1

They should make sample tests available to the public.


16 posted on 04/08/2015 1:17:05 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not A Matter of Opinion)
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To: reaganaut1
Since the average IQs of American Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks are 100, 90, and 85, any academic test will have a "disparate impact".

IQs need to be based on relevant experience to be accurate. An IQ test that focuses on agricultural data will be slanted towards those growing up on farms and have lower scores for those residing in cities.

The real problem isn't that their brains aren't capable - it's the lack of family structure and sense of responsibility that fosters actual studying and application of oneself.

17 posted on 04/08/2015 3:46:08 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: Larry381

Your facts are racist.


18 posted on 04/08/2015 3:50:37 AM PDT by Dagnabitt (Islamic Immigration is Treason)
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To: trebb

The entire test could be written in Ebonics and deal entirely with ghetto scenarios. The results would be the same. Asians and Whites would do best.


19 posted on 04/08/2015 3:56:39 AM PDT by Dagnabitt (Islamic Immigration is Treason)
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To: Dagnabitt
The entire test could be written in Ebonics and deal entirely with ghetto scenarios. The results would be the same. Asians and Whites would do best.

I agree - once again, I attribute it to family structure and sense of responsibility rather than "they're just too dumb". When I was in school in the '50s and '60s, we had a fair number of Blacks in school and they all did just fine. Then, Johnson's "great society" took effect and destroyed them - just as he intended.

20 posted on 04/08/2015 4:07:25 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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