BITCH test (Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity)
BITCH test (Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity)
The test consisted of a multiple-choice questionnaire in which the examinee was asked to identify the meaning of 100 words as they were then used in black ghettos.[1] Examples of words used included alley apple, black draught, blood, boogie jugie, and boot.[1]
The original sample used in the experiment consisted of 100 white and 100 black St. Louis high school students, aged 16–18 years old – half of them being from low socioeconomic levels and the other half from middle income levels.
Williams also had data from two other samples of blacks and whites. These samples included 25 black and 13 white college students from Mississippi and 19 white graduate students from Boston University.
Out of the 200 students who participated in the original sample the 100 black students answered 87/100 answers correctly and the whites answered 51/100 questions correctly.
In the other samples the results were similar with the black students’ scores being drastically different from those of the whites.
This test was written by Robert Williams, PhD, at the St. Louis University. It was designed to expose cultural bias in standardized testing. After testing 100 black and white high school students in St. Louis, the results showed that the Black kids superior test scores far exceeded the whites’ scores.
The standardized IQ tests that draw material primarily from the dominant culture can (and do) lead to cultural bias.
READ THE ARTICLE FROM 1977
http://people.com/archive/prof-robert-williams-has-written-an-i-q-test-for-blacks-that-isnt-jive-vol-8-no-19/ (Links to an external site.)
READING (paper written by Robert Williams, PhD, creator of the BITCH test); here is the abstract
The aim of this paper is to describe the rationale and evaluation of the Black Intelligence Scale of Cultural Homogeneity (BITCH). A “culture specific” test is used to determine the taker’s ability to function symbolically or to think in terms of his own culture and environment.
A combination of dialect specific and culture specific tests would certainly enhance the possibility of measuring what is inside the black child’s head; this is the basic rationale for the BITCH-100. Over two years, a 100-item test was developed. The purpose of the first experiment was to demonstrate that the test would discriminate black from white takers.
One hundred white and 100 black high school students ranging in age from 16 to 18 years, half from low socioeconomic levels and half from middle income levels, from the city of St. Louis took the BITCH-100.
The black group showed a clear superiority over the white group. The distribution of scores approximated a normal distribution in which blacks comprise the upper half, whites the lower half.
Twenty-eight black Neighborhood Youth Corps high school “drop outs” were administered the BITCH and the California Achievement Test in the second experiment. The results confirm the hypothesis regarding the sensitivity of the BITCH in picking up “intellectual indicators” not commonly found in conventional tests. (Author/JM)
Read the ENTIRE ARTICLE here (Robert Williams, Ph D)..
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED070799 (Links to an external site.)
Now that you are well versed in responses to standardized biases, answer the following:
Briefly write your thoughts about a test that was designed to expose cultural bias, including your beliefs about how you think you would do (just from looking at the questions)….at least 2 paragraphs are required.
