Test-Taking Strategy as a Mediator between Race and Academic Performance

    Authors

    S. J. Dollinger;M. H. Clark

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Learn. Individ. Differ.

    Keywords

    Test-taking strategy; Race; Academic performance; Vocabulary; COGNITIVE-ABILITY; AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION; ETHNIC-DIFFERENCES; COLLEGE-STUDENTS; TEST-WISENESS; SELF-ESTEEM; INTELLIGENCE; VALIDITY; ACHIEVEMENT; DISIDENTIFICATION; Psychology, Educational

    Abstract

    The issue of race differences in standardized test scores and academic achievement continues to be a vexing one for behavioral scientists and society at large. Ellis and Ryan (2003) suggested that a portion of the cognitive-ability test performance differences between White/Caucasian-American and Black/African-American college students could be attributed to the greater use of ineffective test-taking strategies by the latter group. We replicated and extended their findings by using three outcomes-exam scores in a single academic course, self-reported GPA, and a measure of verbal abilities. Ellis and Ryan reported that the variance in cognitive-ability test performance explained by race dropped by 48% (i.e., from 21% originally to 11%) when controlling for the mediator, ineffective test-taking strategies. Our results were less dramatic, but also indicated that ineffective test-taking strategies accounted for 19% to 25% of the variance originally explained by race. In addition, reminiscent of the disidentification effect, supplementary analyses showed that academic/intellectual self-perceptions correlated with the criterion measures but only for White participants. These results suggest that a portion of the race difference on test scores might be accounted for by test-taking strategies. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Learning and Individual Differences

    Volume

    22

    Issue/Number

    4

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    511

    Last Page

    517

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000305869700011

    ISSN

    1041-6080

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