A multilevel study of position effects in PISA achievement tests: student- and school-level predictors in the German tracked school system |
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| Authors: | Gabriel Nagy Benjamin Nagengast Andreas Frey Michael Becker Norman Rose |
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| Institution: | 1. Educational Measurement, Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, Kiel, Germanynagy@ipn.uni-kiel.de https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6897-212X;3. Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germanyhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9868-8322;4. Department of Research Methods in Education, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany;5. Educational Governance, German Institute for International Educational Research, Berlin, Germany;6. Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany |
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| Abstract: | AbstractPosition effects (PE) cause decreasing probabilities of correct item responses towards the end of a test. We analysed PEs in science, mathematics and reading tests administered in the German extension to the PISA 2006 study with respect to their variability at the student- and school-level. PEs were strongest in reading and weakest in mathematics. Variability in PEs was found at both levels of analysis. PEs were stronger for male students, for students with a migration background (science and mathematics), and for students with a less favourable socio-economic background (reading). At the school level, PEs were stronger in lower school tracks and in schools with a high proportion of students with a migration background. The relationships of the test scores with the covariates partly reflected the covariates’ relationships with PEs. Our findings suggest that PEs should be taken seriously in large-scale assessments as they have an undesirable impact on the results. |
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| Keywords: | PISA 2006 position effect predictors of position effects multilevel modelling validity |
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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6897-212X;3. Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany