School & test engagement
Educators need accurate assessment data to help students learn. But when students rapid-guess or otherwise disengage on tests the validity of scores can be affected. Our research examines the causes of test disengagement, how it relates to students’ overall academic engagement, and its impacts on individual test scores. We look at its effects on aggregated metrics used for school and teacher evaluations, achievement gap studies, and more. This research also explores better ways to measure and improve engagement and to help ensure that test scores more accurately reflect what students know and can do.
In partnership with Santa Ana Unified School District, we explore the impact of chronic absenteeism on student achievement over two years and whether missing 10% of days is too late to take action.
Topics: School & test engagement
The impact of technology-enhanced items on test-taker disengagement
Can technology-enhanced items increase student engagement on assessments? A new study provides insight.
Topics: School & test engagement, Innovations in reporting & assessment
In this study we conducted a literature review to investigate whether assessment metadata (typically data relevant to how students behave on a test or survey) can provide information on SEL constructs. Implications of this new source of SEL data for practice, policy, and research are discussed.
Topics: School & test engagement, Innovations in reporting & assessment, Social-emotional learning
In this study, we examine the impact of two techniques to account for test disengagement—(a) removing unengaged test takers from the sample and (b) adjusting test scores to remove rapidly guessed items—on estimates of school contributions to student growth, achievement gaps, and summer learning loss.
Topics: Measurement & scaling, School & test engagement, Student growth & accountability policies
The (non)impact of differential test taker engagement on aggregated scores
Disengaged test taking tends to be most prevalent with low-stakes tests. This has led to questions about the validity of aggregated scores from large-scale international assessments such as PISA and TIMSS, as previous research has found a meaningful correlation between the mean engagement and mean performance of countries.
An information-based approach to identifying rapid-guessing thresholds
Although several common threshold methods are based on rapid guessing response accuracy or visual inspection of response time distributions, this paper describes a new information-based approach to setting thresholds that does not share the limitations of other methods.
The emerging science of test-taking disengagement
Student performance on standardized tests reflects more than just mastery of the material.
Topics: Measurement & scaling, Innovations in reporting & assessment, School & test engagement
