Do the Kaufman tests of cognitive ability and academic achievement display construct bias across a representative sample of Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian school-age children in grades 1 through 12?

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As the demographic profile in the United States continues to change and becomes ethnically more diverse, the need for culturally appropriate test instruments has become a national concern among educators, clinicians, and researchers. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-2nd Edition (KABC-II) and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-2nd Edition (KTEA-II) are 2 popular tests of intelligence and achievement, known to appeal to an ethnically diverse client population. The present study investigated test bias in terms of the test scores' construct validity across a nationally representative sample of Caucasian, Black, and Hispanic (N = 2,001) children in Grades 1-12. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess whether increasing sets of equality constraints fit the test scores' underlying theoretical model equally well for all 3 ethnic groups. Results showed that factorial invariance of the factor structure, based on 7 Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model broad abilities, was met for all 3 groups. Outcomes contribute to a scarce body of literature on ethnic test bias that goes beyond the simple comparison of mean score differences. Results of this study provide the evidence needed to justify continuous use of the KABC-II and KTEA-II in the assessment of minority group children and adolescents. Furthermore, findings are generalizable beyond the Kaufman tests to other popular tests of intelligence and achievement; this is because this study is based on the CHC factor structure, a universal theory of cognition that is used as the theoretical underpinning by many well-known tests of intelligence and achievement, including the most recent versions of the Wechsler scales. (PsycINFO Database Record