Barriers framework: differential item functioning as the mechanism of math inaccessibility for students with visual impairments¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The brief organizes its findings around a barriers account of math inaccessibility: some assessment items function differently for students with visual impairments who use screen readers than for other students, creating barriers to demonstrating math achievement. The study "examines the text quality of math assessment items for students with VI who use screen readers" and identifies "low-quality items, which showed differences between the two groups of students." This work "advanced our understanding of barriers" and motivates using AI to redesign how math content is presented online.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Data on achievement for students with and without VI on the same items
• A definition of item quality based on equal measurement across groups

Constraints¶

• Framed for math assessment items and students with VI using screen readers; the brief does not test the framework in other domains

Target Learners¶

• students with visual impairments

Target Learning Objectives¶

• understanding and removing barriers to online math assessment
• increasing opportunity to learn math

Claims¶

• Map Growth Item Quality Vi Classification [+M]
• Word Embedding Classifiers Predict Item Quality Vi [+M]
• The item-quality and prediction work is part of a larger project aiming to make online math more accessible to students with visual impairments [+W]

Related Theories¶

Examples¶

• Use AI-based text analysis (word embeddings plus classifiers) to screen math assessment items for accessibility before deployment
• Word embedding and classifier toolkit for predicting accessible math item quality
• MAP Growth math assessment data corpus for accessibility research

Key Sources¶

• Kang Xue, Elizabeth Barker. (2022). Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve math accessibility for students with visual impairments. https://www.nwea.org/resources/using-artificial-intelligence-ai-to-improve-math-accessibility-for-students-with-visual-impairments/