Test accessibility is defined as the extent to which a test and its constituent item set permits the test-taker to demonstrate his or her knowledge of the target construct. The proposed study used a 2 x 4 experimental design to test the effects of testing accommodations and item modifications on math test performance for two groups of students in grade 7: (a) students with IEPs (n = 103); and (b) students without IEPs (n = 329). Results indicated there was no effect of accommodations, but a moderate effect was observed for modifications, with an effect size nearly two times greater for students with IEPs compared to students with no IEPs. Correlational analyses of the relations between accessibility and item discrimination and item difficulty ranged from very small to moderate, with a moderate correlation between item difficulty and word count. The second phase of the study involved a student post-test survey to solicit perceptions of student access, opportunity to learn, cognitive ease, perceived difficulty, and perceived helpfulness of accommodations. For the total sample, students reported increased opportunity to learn the modified items, and reported the items were easier to comprehend, had lower cognitive demand, and students were more confident they responded correctly. Students with IEPs reported lower understanding, lower opportunity to learn the material, lower confidence, and reported the items were more difficult compared to students with no IEPs. Only 7% of students in the accommodated condition utilized any available accommodations; notwithstanding, self-report data indicated accommodations may have contributed to student self-efficacy. The contribution of the current study to an ongoing program of research on test accessibility, the refinement of accessibility theory, and large-scale assessment practices on alternate assessments of modified achievement standards is discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-02092011-230046 |
| Date | 15 February 2011 |
| Creators | Beddow, Peter Albert |
| Contributors | Stephen N. Elliott, Daniel J. Reschly, Lynn S. Fuchs, Steve Graham, Elisabeth Dykens |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-02092011-230046/ |
| 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 Vanderbilt University 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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