Identifying national cultures of mathematics education: Analysis of cognitive demands and differential item functioning in TIMSS |
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| Authors: | Eckhard Klieme Jürgen Baumert |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Health Policy and Management, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA;(2) Center for Health Quality, Outcomes and Economics Research, a Veteran Administration Center of Excellence, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Hospital (152), Bldg 70, 200 Springs Road, Bedford, MA 01730, USA;(3) Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Large-scale assessments of student competencies address rather broad constructs and use parsimonious, unidimensional measurement models. Differential item functioning (DIF) in certain subpopulations usually has been interpreted as error or bias. Recent work in educational measurement, however, assumes that DIF reflects the multidimensionality that is inherent in broad competency constructs and leads to differential achievement profiles. Thus, DIF parameters can be used to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of certain student subpopulations. The present paper explores profiles of mathematical competencies in upper secondary students from six countries (Austria, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the US). DIF analyses are combined with analyses of the cognitive demands of test items based on psychological conceptualisations of mathematical problem solving. Experts judged the cognitive demands of TIMSS test items, and these demand ratings were correlated with DIF parameters. We expected that cultural framings and instructional traditions would lead to specific aspects of mathematical problem solving being fostered in classroom instruction, which should be reflected in differential item functioning in international comparative assessments. Results for the TIMSS mathematics test were in line with expectations about cultural and instructional traditions in mathematics education of the six countries. |
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