NAEP Technical Documentation

Number of Items by Severity of Differential Item Functioning in the Reading Combined National and State Assessment: 2015

For dichotomously scored items, NAEP categorizes each item into one of three categories: "A" (items exhibiting no DIF), "B" (items exhibiting a weak indication of DIF), or "C" (items exhibiting a strong indication of DIF). A plus sign (+) indicates that items are differentially easier for the focal group (female, Black, or Hispanic students) than for the reference group (male or White students) after making an adjustment for the overall level of proficiency in the two groups. A minus sign (-) indicates that items are differentially more difficult for the focal group than for the reference group. For polytomously scored items, NAEP categorizes items into "AA," "BB," or "CC" categories and the plus or minus sign has the same interpretation as for dichotomously scored items. After reviewing "C" and "CC" items, subject area specialists decided that no items were biased, so none were deleted from the scale for this reason.

Number of dichotomously scored items, reading combined national and state assessment, by differential item functioning (DIF) group, grade, and DIF category: 2015

Grade	DIF category	Female/Male	Black/White	Hispanic/White
4	C-	0	0	0
	B-	0	1	0
	A	71	70	71
	B+	0	0	0
	C+	0	0	0
8	C-	1	0	2
	B-	7	2	2
	A	78	82	79
	B+	0	2	3
	C+	0	0	0
12	C-	6	1	2
	B-	8	5	2
	A	73	79	83
	B+	2	4	2
	C+	0	0	0
NOTE: This includes all items in the assessment (the prescaling decisions). SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2015 Reading Assessment.

Number of polytomously scored items, reading combined national and state assessment, by differential item functioning (DIF) group, grade, and DIF category: 2015

Grade	DIF category	Female/Male	Black/White	Hispanic/White
4	CC-	0	0	0
	BB-	0	0	0
	AA	26	26	26
	BB+	0	0	0
	CC+	0	0	0
8	CC-	0	0	0
	BB-	0	1	0
	AA	45	44	45
	BB+	0	0	0
	CC+	0	0	0
12	CC-	0	0	0
	BB-	0	0	1
	AA	40	39	38
	BB+	3	4	4
	CC+	0	0	0
NOTE: This includes all items in the assessment (the prescaling decisions). SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2015 Reading Assessment.

Items identified as "C" items in at least one comparison, reading combined national and state assessment, by grade and block: 2015

Grade	Block	Item	Subscale	Comparison	Group Favored
8	R1	R059602	Literary	Female/Male	Male
	R7	R058802	Information	Hispanic/White	White
	R12	R061008	Information	Hispanic/White	White
12	R1	R059602	Literary	Female/Male	Male
	R1	R059608	Literary	Hispanic/White	White
	R3	R060107	Information	Female/Male	Male
	R4	R080004	Information	Female/Male	Male
	R6	R078901	Literary	White/Black	White
	R7	R062204	Information	Female/Male	Male
	R9	R062511	Information	Female/Male	Male
	R12	R063103	Information	Female/Male	Male
	R12	R063103	Information	Hispanic/White	White
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2015 Reading Assessment.

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