Validation of an Equity Audit Tool Based on Item Response Theory

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 11:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Advancing Equity and Access in Educational Systems

Abstract

Educational equity is difficult to quantitatively measure, yet qualitative methods alone cannot provide a systems-wide perspective of how equitable schools are. For a public school district’s antiracist system audit, our organization administered an original Equity Audit Tool that rated how each school implements equitable policies across seven domains. With the collected data, Item Response Theory was then used to gauge the coherence of the tool and identify items that could be removed. Comparing items through Cronbach’s alpha and item parameters yielded mixed clarity on how to shorten the tool. The results also demonstrated the unidimensionality of each domain along with moderate to strong reliability, providing validity evidence for a tool that evaluates how equitable a school’s policies and practices are.

Author

• Vo Ram Yoon, Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium