Date of Award
8-16-2024
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Scott Decker
Abstract
Children who have difficulty learning to read, particularly those with a specific learning disorder in reading (SLD-R) are at risk for an array of adverse outcomes. However, children who are identified and receive reading interventions early perform better on social, emotional, academic, and behavioral outcomes relative to those who do not receive early identification and intervention. In response to the growing body of research that has developed on the importance of the early identification of children have difficulty reading, many states have mandated the screening of all children for reading difficulties, specifically dyslexia. However, with the development of new reading tests, there is a potential for bias related to societal differences, unrelated to individual’s ability levels, to be incorporated. This bias may improperly represent a group as having reading challenges. One such socially understood group is gender. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing state that newly developed educational and psychological tests must be validated to ensure they are not biased against such a group. The aim of the present study is to investigate differences in scores by gender and item level bias related to gender on an electronically delivered word identification task on the Carolina Automated Reading Examination. A differential item function (DIF) analysis of student results (n=1,677) revealed that one of 63 items on the word identification task had significant gender bias toward males. Implications for the word identification task and limitations of the study are discussed.
Rights
© 2024, Donna Perazzo
Recommended Citation
Perazzo, D.(2024). Evaluating Gender Bias in an Early Reading Screener of Word Identification Abilities. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/7779