ATP Board Approves New Standing Committee:

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Testing 

The ATP Board of Directors, at its October meeting, approved a new Standing Committee focused on diversity in testing.  "This new Committee, titled the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Testing Committee, is for ATP members responsible for ensuring that all assessments are fair and accessible to all relevant test takers, with a special focus on legal minorities and disadvantaged groups," announced ATP CEO William G. Harris.

The concept for the new Committee was brought to the ATP Board of Directors by ATP Board Secretary Andre Allen, of Fifth Theory, LLC, and crafted under the auspices of scientific advisors Dr. John Jones and Dr. Kelly Dages, also from FifthTheory. 

According to the concept paper approved by the Board, the new Standing Committee will focus on five DEI Dimensions as they pertain to testing: Test publisher governance and culture; Standards, guidelines and legislation; Assessment design & science; Testing technology and access; and, Test taker inclusion and opportunities.

As the group wrote in their concept paper: "Disadvantaged groups of potential test takers include persons that experience a higher risk of social exclusion, discrimination, and poverty, including, but not limited to, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, isolated children and elderly, and migrants.  The goal of this new ATP Committee is to ensure that the professional testing community does everything in its power to avoid marginalizing any potential test taker as a consequence of social, cultural, economic, and/or political conditions... this new ATP Committee will strive to be at the forefront in ensuring that all aspects of the educational, workplace, licensure, and certification testing value chains are designed to ensure full inclusion in relation to any opportunities that testing provides to test takers."

The five DEI Dimensions were defined as follows: Test Publisher Governance & Culture: First and foremost, ATP strives to ensure that all members embrace and promote DEI initiatives as part of their organizational culture.  This means ensuring that senior leaders of the test publishing organizations embrace DEI initiatives and that both DEI needs, and programming are addressed in the organization’s strategic and operational plans* [*Cox, G. & Lancefield, D. (2021).  5 Strategies to Infuse DEI into Your Organization.  Harvard Business Review. (hbr.or/2021/5/5-strategies-to-infuse-DEI-into-your-organizarion].  Committee members can share best practices. 

Standards, Guidelines & Legislation: Historically, DEI has skewed toward legal and regulatory solutions in relation to testing (e.g., EEOC and OFCCP compliance in the United States). However, International Standards now exist that address Diversity and Inclusion in organizations, and these standards have subsections that are clearly relevant to testing.  For example, the new ISO 30415 Standard titled, “Human Resources Management: Diversity and Inclusion” (2021-05; Reference Number ISO 30415:2021[E]) includes relevant subsections on organizational governance, workforce recruitment and onboarding, learning and development, performance management, workforce mobility, and product and services designs.  All of these DEI standards are relevant to testing.  Committee members will share any new standards that are relevant to ATP members, and compliance-focused position papers will be published. 

Assessment Design & Science: A major focus of this committee will be to share best practices on how to design assessment instruments and related service bundles to maximize test fairness across diverse groups.  For example, best practices for reviewing items for fairness, inclusive languages, and cultural relevance will be shared.  The use of ethical algorithms and artificial intelligence to improve test fairness will be monitored and promoted when relevant. [Jones, J.W., Cunningham, M.C., with Behrens, G. & Thiemann, A. (2021).  Ethical HR Algorithms: Best Practices for Talent Management.  Chicago, IL: FifthTheory Press.]  Additional topics address best practices for accommodations during test administration with disabled test takers.  Committee members will promote thought leadership monographs and supporting research on how innovative test design can actually bring more opportunities to underserved and underrepresented groups in workforce and educational contexts. ATP embraces an evidence-based approach to document that all DEI initiatives, as they pertain to testing, are valid and actually work.

Testing Technology & Access:  Testing technology is experiencing a boom.  Online and mobile assessment platforms are the status quo.  Yet new platforms that rely on augmented realities, virtual realities, and even advanced gaming are starting to emerge.  Unfortunately, there is still a “digital divide” that needs to be completely closed based on those potential test takers who have access to high-speed computers and the internet and those that do not. [Stanford University. Digital Divide. (https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/digital-divide/start.html]  This divide is based on educational attainment and income and therefore clearly impacts the underprivileged and disadvantaged students and individuals struggling to enter the workforce.  ATP Committee members will strive to close the digital divide, and will make sure that new divides do not open up. 

Test Taker Inclusion & Opportunities:  Finally, the committee will push for recommendations and guidelines that ensure that all potential test takers, advantaged and disadvantaged alike, have equal access to educational and career opportunities where testing is a gate (e.g., college admissions testing and professional licensure exams).  A DEI perspective is that testing must bring about more opportunities for the disadvantaged and not fewer.  Some of the subtopics that this dimension covers include: Access to educational and employment opportunities that require testing should be advertised in a broad manner so that inclusivity is ensured, and a diverse population  receives such postings;  Access to test preparation and related test mastery mindset educational resources should be widespread and should not be dependent on one’s ability to purchase these service; and, For the financially disadvantaged, strategies that overcome access to test preparation and even sitting for a test can be overcome through sponsorships, reduced fees, and grants.

If any ATP member is interested in this new committee, contact Andre Allen, Chair of ATP’s DEI and Testing Committee, at [email protected] or Vice Chair Alex Casillas of ACT at [email protected], or Secretary  Kelly Dages at [email protected].

The goal is to launch the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Testing Committee in time for the ATP Innovations 2022 Conference in Orlando.   Point leaders will be assigned for each of the five focus areas.  Featured DEI presentations are also planned.

The goal is to launch the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Testing Committee in time for the ATP Innovations 2022 Conference in Orlando.   Point leaders will be assigned for each of the five focus areas.  Featured DEI presentations are also planned.