This study explored issues surrounding the validity of Pennsylvanias Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) for students with visual impairments. The PASA is a performance-based assessment that assesses a sub-set of math and reading skills delineated by the States alternate standards. Data from 286 students with visual impairments who took the 2005 Level A PASA at grades 3/4 or 7/8 were analyzed. Descriptive and statistical analyses compared achievement on the PASA between three groups of students with visual impairments at different levels of functional vision as well as to a matched group of peers without visual impairments. The latter comparison investigated differential item functioning (DIF) on each individual test item using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test. In addition, types of accommodations made for students with visual impairments to provide access to the assessment and potential factors contributing to test bias were documented. Overall, the study confirmed expected patterns of accommodation selection by functional vision level with layout/set-up accommodations being the most frequently used. It also revealed a set of test items flagged for DIF statistically that did not always coincide with the test items judgmental reviewers would expect to be problematic or different for students with visual impairments. Among the three functional levels and the students with visual impairments as a whole, 29 instances of DIF in which a test item may have been potentially harder were found. In addition, there were 12 instances where a test item may have potentially been easier. A qualitative logical analysis highlighted a variety of variables that interact with the decision-making process to pinpoint potential reasons for the presence of DIF. Under-accommodation, the frequency of lucky guesses, score change patterns, and experience level with content were all factors suspected of contributing to performance on different types of test items. Discussion of these variables as well as interesting patterns in accommodation selection or the absence of accommodation selection is included. Challenges of and recommendations for adapting the PASA for students with visual impairments are provided as well as general discussion regarding aspects of assessing this population of students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-12072006-104720 |
| Date | 29 January 2007 |
| Creators | Zebehazy, Kim T. |
| Contributors | Louise A. Kaczmarek, Audrey T. Kappel, George J. Zimmerman, Jane Erin, Naomi Zigmond |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12072006-104720/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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