Test-Taking Strategy as a Mediator between Race and Academic Performance

The issue of race differences in standardized test scores and academic achievement continues to be a vexing one for behavioral scientists and society at large. Ellis and Ryan (2003) suggested that a portion of the cognitive-ability test performance differences between White/Caucasian-American and Black/African-American college students could be attributed to the greater use of ineffective test-taking strategies by the latter group. We replicated and extended their findings by using three outcomes—exam scores in a single academic course, self-reported GPA, and a measure of verbal abilities. Ellis and Ryan reported that the variance in cognitive-ability test performance explained by race dropped by 48% (i.e., from 21% originally to 11%) when controlling for the mediator, ineffective test-taking strategies. Our results were less dramatic, but also indicated that ineffective test-taking strategies accounted for 19% to 25% of the variance originally explained by race. In addition, reminiscent of the disidentification effect, supplementary analyses showed that academic/intellectual self-perceptions correlated with the criterion measures but only for White participants. These results suggest that a portion of the race difference on test scores might be accounted for by test-taking strategies.

► We extended past findings by Ellis and Ryan (2003) to consider whether poor testing-taking strategy explains cognitive ability differences between Blacks and Whites.
► Our results showed similar effects for exam performance in a single course, self-reported GPA and a vocabulary test.
► Correlational results showed that self-rated intelligence related to academic measures but only among Whites, supporting the academic disidentification hypothesis.