Exploring the context of Education

Matalon, Barbara. 2000. Are culture-fair tests really fair to Jamaican students? In Institute of Education annual, vol. 2, ed. Ruby King, pp. 3–20. Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Education, UWI, Mona.

General reasoning abilities of 800 students, aged seven to nine years, were assessed by means of the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale, a culture-fair test. The students lived in a large urban area of Jamaica, and attended grades 1 and 4 in government and private schools. Results showed that children from families of low socioeconomic status (SES) who attended government schools scored significantly lower than children from families of middle, high-middle, and high SES who attended private schools. In addition, scores by students in grade 1 compared with those in grade 4 were similar across grades for students attending government schools, but scores increased marginally across grades for students attending private schools. Results are discussed in terms of the failure of culture-free tests to adequately assess mental abilities of children from low SES families, the inadequacies of standardized intelligence testing in general, and the seemingly inadequate primary education in government schools.