Final answer:
Race and ethnicity are indeed considered in standardized testing to mitigate potential biases. Critical race theorists and organizations like FairTest support efforts to ensure fair evaluations, and the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld certain affirmative action policies in education.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question of whether race and ethnicity should be taken into account in standardized testing is to correct for possible bias. This is considered true by many experts in the field of education and social justice. Critical race theorists argue that structural racism affects standardized tests by perpetuating inequalities.
For example, standardized tests can inadvertently reflect cultural biases, such as requiring knowledge of orchestral instruments, which might not be familiar to people from less affluent backgrounds.
In educational admissions, affirmative action policies have considered race and ethnicity to redress past discrimination and strive for diversity. These policies have been reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has generally upheld the practice as long as it does not involve quotas (e.g., Bakke v. California, Grutter v. Bollinger).
Moreover, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) advocates for fair evaluation free from the inherent biases of standardized tests. Collectively, these insights underscore the ongoing effort to address and correct for biases in standardized assessments.