11 - Assessment of Minority and Culturally Diverse Children

Abstract

This chapter highlights the importance of relationship between ethnicity and race along with the three Wechsler scales for assessing children's intelligence, especially the older versions of this test where most of the research on this issue is found. It also emphasizes the importance of addressing central issues of the role of ethnicity, race, and related variables on testing. The chapter reconfigures reported racial differences usually based on culture and not on biological variables. The studies of Scarr also suggest that culture is of greater importance than race in determining differences in tests. It also outlines the definition of culture, race, and ethnicity because it pertains to the issue of childrens' formation of a non majority group fit into a majority group. The Wechsler intelligence scale for children-third edition (WISC-III) is a basic measure of “g,” which is accepted as a universal description of intelligence by many psychologists.