Evaluating the fairness of a high-stakes college entrance exam in Kuwait
Abstract The use of college entrance exams for facilitating admission decisions become controversial, and the central argument is around the fairness of test scores. The Kuwait University English Aptitude Test (KUEAT) is a high-stakes test, but very few studies have examined the psychometric quality...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2024-07-01
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| Series: | Language Testing in Asia |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-024-00301-4 |
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| author | Fajer Shamsaldeen Jue Wang Soyeon Ahn |
| author_facet | Fajer Shamsaldeen Jue Wang Soyeon Ahn |
| author_sort | Fajer Shamsaldeen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The use of college entrance exams for facilitating admission decisions become controversial, and the central argument is around the fairness of test scores. The Kuwait University English Aptitude Test (KUEAT) is a high-stakes test, but very few studies have examined the psychometric quality of the scores for this national-level assessment. This study illustrates how measurement approaches can be used to examine the fairness issues in educational testing. Through a modern view of fairness, we assess the internal and external bias of KUEAT scores using differential item functioning analysis and differential prediction analysis, respectively, and provide a comprehensive fairness argument for KUEAT scores. The analysis for examining the internal evidence of bias was based on 1790 examinees’ KUEAT scores in November 2018. KUEAT scores and first-year college GPAs of 4033 students enrolled in KU were used for assessing the external evidence of bias. Results revealed many items showing differential item functioning across student subpopulation groups (i.e., nationality, gender, high school majors, and high school types). Meanwhile, KUEAT scores also predicted college performance differentially by different student subgroups (i.e., nationality, high school majors, and high school types). Discussion and implications on the fairness issues of college entrance tests in Kuwait are provided. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5987ad1492254715886c25e980c92b79 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2229-0443 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-07-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Language Testing in Asia |
| spelling | doaj-art-5987ad1492254715886c25e980c92b792025-01-26T12:47:27ZengSpringerOpenLanguage Testing in Asia2229-04432024-07-0114111810.1186/s40468-024-00301-4Evaluating the fairness of a high-stakes college entrance exam in KuwaitFajer Shamsaldeen0Jue Wang1Soyeon Ahn2University of MiamiUniversity of Science and Technology of ChinaUniversity of MiamiAbstract The use of college entrance exams for facilitating admission decisions become controversial, and the central argument is around the fairness of test scores. The Kuwait University English Aptitude Test (KUEAT) is a high-stakes test, but very few studies have examined the psychometric quality of the scores for this national-level assessment. This study illustrates how measurement approaches can be used to examine the fairness issues in educational testing. Through a modern view of fairness, we assess the internal and external bias of KUEAT scores using differential item functioning analysis and differential prediction analysis, respectively, and provide a comprehensive fairness argument for KUEAT scores. The analysis for examining the internal evidence of bias was based on 1790 examinees’ KUEAT scores in November 2018. KUEAT scores and first-year college GPAs of 4033 students enrolled in KU were used for assessing the external evidence of bias. Results revealed many items showing differential item functioning across student subpopulation groups (i.e., nationality, gender, high school majors, and high school types). Meanwhile, KUEAT scores also predicted college performance differentially by different student subgroups (i.e., nationality, high school majors, and high school types). Discussion and implications on the fairness issues of college entrance tests in Kuwait are provided.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-024-00301-4High-stakes college entrance examFairnessDifferential item functioningRasch measurement theoryDifferential prediction analysis |
| spellingShingle | Fajer Shamsaldeen Jue Wang Soyeon Ahn Evaluating the fairness of a high-stakes college entrance exam in Kuwait Language Testing in Asia High-stakes college entrance exam Fairness Differential item functioning Rasch measurement theory Differential prediction analysis |
| title | Evaluating the fairness of a high-stakes college entrance exam in Kuwait |
| title_full | Evaluating the fairness of a high-stakes college entrance exam in Kuwait |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating the fairness of a high-stakes college entrance exam in Kuwait |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating the fairness of a high-stakes college entrance exam in Kuwait |
| title_short | Evaluating the fairness of a high-stakes college entrance exam in Kuwait |
| title_sort | evaluating the fairness of a high stakes college entrance exam in kuwait |
| topic | High-stakes college entrance exam Fairness Differential item functioning Rasch measurement theory Differential prediction analysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-024-00301-4 |
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