ABSTRACT THE BIAS OF CURRENT WRITING ASSESSMENT METHODS AND THE OVERREPRESENATION OF STUDENTS OF COLOR IN THE (original) (raw)

Assessment practices and literacy standards can work against racial and economic identities of students within the CSU system, negatively impacting both access and diversity within higher education. As many have pointed out, racial identity and economic standing influence, if not construct one's use of English, and these identities largely inform the kinds of English that we speak and write in. Remedial programs such as the CSU's Early Start assess students' reading and writing capabilities using exams that in ways have historically "been used in the service of racial bigotry" (Literacy as White Property: The Politics of Learning After Brown v. Board of Education, 5). When used to determine remediation, standardized tests are often rooted in racist and classist institutional policies. This is particularly important when these forms of reading and writing assessment are used in higher education. In the CSU system, placement exams, such as the English Placement Test, are used to determine students' need for remediation. However, low-income students of color have often been overrepresented in the English remediation program, Early Start.