Identifying Differential Item Functioning on the NELS:88 History Achievement Test. CSE Technical Report.

This study examined gender-based differential item functioning (DIF) on the 10th-grade history achievement test administered as part of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), which followed 24,599 8th graders into 10th and 12th grades. Several DIF analyses with varying matching criteria were conducted, and the results were supplemented with a survey study that helped validate the interpretations of the underlying causes of DIF. DIF in favor of each gender corresponded to traditional sex role stereotypes; males performed better on "masculine" items, whereas females were advantaged on "feminine" questions. The survey study, conducted with 432 high school juniors and seniors, confirmed that both high school boys and high school girls perceived the items to be sex-typed in the manner predicted by sex-role appropriateness. The findings reveal that the male advantage on this particular test was limited to specific content areas and did not represent a difference in overall proficiency. (Contains 4 tables and 33 references.) (Author/SLD)