Poster #40 - Generating (DIF)ferent Reading Responses: Exploring the Relationship Between Item Response and Immigrant-Generational Status

• In Event: 21.063 - MTCC Poster Session Three
  In Poster Session: 21.063-3 - Differential Item Functioning and Measurement Invariance

Abstract

The present study assessed whether the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) Reading Recognition subtest functioned differently for (immigrant) generational status groups within a diverse sample of Black and Latinx children. A multiple indicators multiple cause model is employed to investigate differential item functioning (DIF). Results indicated that many items on the PIAT reading recognition battery exhibited DIF; however, the direction of generational status DIF varied across items and time. This research contributes to the body of work that seeks to ensure that the inferences drawn from standardized test scores can ethically and fairly be used to make comparisons and generalizations across an entire range of test takers.

Author

• Ama Nyame-Mensah, The University of Pennsylvania