The effects of extended administration time on the standardized test performance of Chapter 1 students and students from a non-English language background.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not time restrictions imposed by standardized tests have a negative effect on the reading test scores of certain disadvantaged groups, specifically, Chapter 1 students and students from non-English language background. A comparison between the classroom teachers' judgment of the students' reading levels and their standardized grade equivalents was made.;The subjects were 211 third graders attending five economically disadvantaged schools in Broward County, Florida. Of the 211 subjects, 85 were Chapter 1 students and 126 were not. Each subject was identified as having either an English language background or a non-English language background. The two reading subtests of Level D, Form 1, of the 1978 Science Research Associates (SRA) Achievement Series were given using a standard and extended administration time. The standard time was the exact time allocated in the SRA Examiner's Manual. Extended time was 50 percent increase. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two time treatments.;Data were analyzed using a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA, fixed effect design, with the raw scores for total reading as the dependent variable and Chapter 1 status, language background, and administration time as the independent variables. A statistically significant main effect for Chapter 1 status and for the interaction between Chapter 1 status and language background was found. The hypotheses involving time were nullified by a ceiling effect for time. The t-test for independent samples was used to compare the teacher judgment data and the standardized total grade equivalent scores. There was a statistically significant effect for Chapter 1 status with teacher judgment G.E. 1.02 levels higher than the test G.E. for the Chapter 1 subjects.;No conclusions can be drawn from this study about the effects of time. The relationship between language background and Chapter 1 status shows there was a greater difference between the English high and low subjects than there was for those from a non-English language background. Although standardized tests do seem to assess the able reader fairly accurately, data indicate that teacher judgment of reading levels for less able readers is higher than test scores reveal.