At item level, money and social-interaction content are significantly related to lower odds of correct responding by low-SES students, but food content is not when compared with neutral word problems¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Items referring to money and social interaction are significantly related to a lower chance of correct responding among low-SES students; food items differ significantly from mathematical-notation items but not from neutral word problems. → Marjolein Muskens 2024

Evidence¶

Marjolein Muskens 2024¶

Marjolein Muskens, Willem E. Frankenhuiss & Lex Borghans. (2024). Math items about real-world content lower test-scores of students from families with low socioeconomic status. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00228-8

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Category-specific DIF analyses on the 161 items (Fig. 2). The article states food content "did not show a significant difference with word problems with neutral content", while food versus mathematical notation was significant. All analyses survived Bonferroni correction as printed.

"results suggest that especially items containing content that refers to money and social interaction are related significantly to a lower chance of correctly responding among low-SES students compared to high-SES students with the same math ability"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Domain Context — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• Items with low-SES ecologically relevant content show Differential Item Functioning to the disadvantage of low-SES students more often than neutral items — a broader claim this one bears on
• Low-SES students have a lower chance of correctly answering math items with money, food, or social-interaction content than expected given their average math performance — a broader claim this one bears on
• The disadvantage from ecologically relevant content is driven by money and social-interaction items in both grades, but food items show the effect only in grade 4 — related
• Contrary to the hidden-talents hypothesis, low-SES students scored 18% lower on mathematics items of real-world importance — a broader claim this one bears on
• The expected performance advantage of ecologically relevant content for low-SES students, predicted by the hidden talents approach, was not found; the opposite pattern emerged — a broader claim this one bears on