1. Listening. Learning. Leading. Using Factor Analysis to Investigate the Impact of Accommodations on the Scores of Students with Disabilities on English-Language Arts Assessments Linda Cook, Daniel Eignor, Yasuyo Sawaki, Jonathan Steinberg, and Frederic Cline Educational Testing Service

2. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading. Purpose and Overview of the Study Purpose was to examine scores on ELA assessment for students with disabilities who took the test with and without accommodations and to compare them to scores on the assessment for students without disabilities who took the test without accommodations 4 th grade ELA assessment Accommodations specified in IEP or 504 plan Series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses Validate DIF criterion Is test measuring similar number of factors for studied groups?

3. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading.

4. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading.

5. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading.

6. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading.

7. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading.

8. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading.

9. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading. Exploratory Factor Analysis With Rotation Extracted 5,4,3,2,1 factors and rotated obliquely Five factor model (based on strands) did not show expected pattern Two factor model (based on reading and writing) did not show expected pattern Factors based on item type were weak

10. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading.

11. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading. Results of Exploratory Analyses Strong indication that test measures single factor for all three groups Followed up with confirmatory factor analyses Does two factor model based on reading and writing factors show significant gain in fit over one factor model?

12. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading.

13. Copyright © 2005 Educational Testing Service Listening. Learning. Leading. Summary Factor analyses indicate one factor needed to account for data Support use of total test score as matching criterion for DIF study Support aggregation of scores for AYP purposes Provide some evidence of validity of test for students with disabilities Further analyses is required to determine if single factors are the same factor for all groups of interest