title: Observation evaluation to assess race and educational bias in state-mandated standard testing of nurse aides in nursing homes.
abstract: This article presents an assessment of whether race, education, gender, or other testing bias was present in a state-mandated nurse aide competency test. This assessment was carried out with data from two sources: (a) a statewide standardized test for all nurse aides that was given by a nationally known testing company, (b) an independent observational evaluation with a Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) for nurse aides' performance that was carried out by the investigators. The results show that race and education level were predictors of performance on written and manual portions of the standardized test. Gender, age, and years of experience were also shown to predict test success. Comparing data from the two sources suggests that a possible bias in the standardized nurse aid test. The independent observation of performance on the job with the BARS is shown to be less biased.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Department of Health Administration, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Stoskopf
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ciesla
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Glik
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cover
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D004650:Employee Performance Appraisal / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009728:Nursing Assistants / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards*; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D044469:Racial Groups; D015203:Reproducibility of Results