ABSTRACT
One powerful idea about standardized tests is that they are culturally biased against particular student groups. Most often, people hold this idea with respect to students of color, but it can also pertain to adult students, rural students, or students from low-income backgrounds. This idea derives from many sources, both statistics and popular opinion, and can function as a debilitating self-fulfilling prophecy for students who might struggle with doubts about the exam and experience identity/stereotype threats. This chapter demystifies the notion of cultural bias in standardized tests and reframes it in an honest and useful way. The chapter unpacks different meanings of the term “bias” with respect to licensure exams so that readers have a productive way of understanding it and are less likely to believe simplistic rumors. Against these ideas, I illustrate some of the healthy and harmful ways students have dealt with ideas of bias during their preparation and taking of licensure exams. This chapter also leads students through the important work of excavating from where they derived their particular beliefs about standardized tests and how they can reframe them in a more productive way.
