Gender and Education

As I was reading chapter 8 on education and gender I was thinking about my job. I work for an educational testing company and one of the things that is important for us as we create tests is write items (technical term for a test question) that are fair and unbiased. Until I started working for this company I had no idea how much work went into creating a test question. When we write a test we don't just put it out there for use. We go through item review meetings. We put together a group of teachers from what ever state we're creating the test for and they look at each question (no kidding -- we're talking close to a thousand for each content area) to make sure that it not only matches what their teaching but also for gender bias and sensitivity. I've sat in meetings were pictures have been changed to make sure that they reflect a fair and balanced view of society. The last meeting I attended was in April and I remember a picture used in a science test was revised so that the lead scientist was a woman. We even count to make sure that there is a fair balance of boys and girls names, we look for ethnic and racial blance. I think I'm still amazed that we work that hard to ensure equality

While I do think that overall there is still an issue of unfair bias in education. I know that we're also working to ensure that it does not continue.