New book addresses systemic racism and educational measurement
A new book by Lynch School of Education and Human Development Professor Michael Russell calls for purging inherent racial bias and injustice from the educational assessments that shape the trajectories of American students.
Systemic Racism and Educational Measurement, released in August, confronts the race sciences, white supremacy, and other injustices in the field’s research and practice that, according to Russell, lead test instruments, interpretation of test scores, and critical decisions such as college or high school admissions to perpetuate the nation’s racialized social structure.
“While issues of race, discrimination, and social justice have generated increased national attention, a sharp focus on racism has eluded the field of educational measurement,” said Russell, the author or co-author of four previous books on educational assessment. “As evidenced by the many lawsuits and the large body of research focused on potential racial bias in testing, there is little doubt that issues of race and racism have been, and continue to be, a critical concern for the use of test scores to inform admission and scholarship decisions.”
Mike Russell (Caitlin Cunningham)
Russell traces how the “White Racial Frame”—a theory espoused by sociologist Joe R. Feagin asserting that systemic and structural discrimination is deeply entrenched in American minds and institutions—legitimizes and maintains structural and systemic racism in the testing, measurement, and assessment of human learning and performance.
“The White Racial Frame functions as an apparatus that plays an essential role in maintaining systemic racism by perpetuating and recreating racialized narratives that elevate White people, and denigrate non-dominant racialized groups,” explained Russell, a faculty member in the Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics & Assessment Department. “Just as it influences all facets of social, economic, and political functioning in the United States, it, too, has impacted—and continues to impact—educational measurement.”
Even among well-meaning stakeholders who aim to improve humanity and address inequities, the White Racial Frame nonetheless shapes the field’s research questions, the methods utilized, the data valued, the interpretations made, and the language used throughout, according to Russell.
An article in the March 2021 issue of the NEA News, the newsletter of the National Education Association—the nation’s largest labor union representing public school teachers—noted that “since their inception a century ago, standardized tests have been instruments of racism and a biased system. Students of color, particularly those from low-income families, have suffered the most from high-stakes testing in U.S. public schools.”
To address these influences, Russell advocates for the adoption of alternate perspectives that counter the White Racial Frame’s impact on measurement and evaluation, and offers several actions that could shift educational measurement toward anti-racism and increased fairness, such as strengthening diversity in the field; making the context of test items characteristic of the experiences of underrepresented students; and employing more sensitive techniques for detecting bias in tests, among other actions.
“The field of educational testing must first acknowledge that in its current form, it functions within, is influenced by, and contributes to systemic racism,” said Russell, a Lynch School faculty member for 17 years, with nearly 10 years of private sector assessment experience. “The field must be prepared to pivot from service as an agent in systemic racism to an institution engaged in anti-racist endeavors that support the pursuit of racial justice.”