MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHICH IS THE FAIREST TEST OF ALL - AN EXAMINATION OF THE EQUITABILITY OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT RELATIVE TO STANDARDIZED TESTS

Do alternative assessments result in greater equity than standardized tests with regard to gender, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity? In this article, Jonathan Supovitz and Robert Brennan investigate thi s question and find that, in the Rochester, New York, school system, g ender, socioeconomic, and racial inequities persist even with alternat ive assessment, although alternative assessments have a smaller gap be tween Blacks and Whites, and a larger one between the sexes, than do s tandardized tests. The authors conclude that alternative assessments h ave potential to decrease the inequities seen with standardized tests, but they caution that care be taken in the development of such assess ments to reduce cultural and other biases.