A Psychometric Analysis of the Algebra and Precalculus Concept Readiness Assessment for Community Colleges

Yadira Peralta; Nidhi Kohli; April Strom; Irene Duranczyk; Vilma Mesa; Laura Watkins

doi:10.1177/0734282919846019

A Psychometric Analysis of the Algebra and Precalculus Concept Readiness Assessment for Community Colleges

Yadira Peralta, Nidhi Kohli, April Strom, Irene Duranczyk, Vilma Mesa, Laura Watkins

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Understanding students’ readiness for precalculus and calculus at the community college level is critical not only because of the key role community colleges play in higher education but also because calculus remains a gateway course for students in advancing to higher level mathematics. The Algebra and Precalculus Concept Readiness Assessment for Community Colleges (APCR-CC) was designed to investigate community college students’ quantitative reasoning abilities and conceptual understanding in algebra. The present study investigates the psychometric properties of the APCR-CC instrument using item response theory based on a sample of intermediate and college algebra students from six community colleges collected in a pretest (N = 1,131) and posttest (N = 772) setting. We examine unidimensionality, item fit, local item independence, measurement invariance, and sensitivity to instruction. Our findings suggest that the APCR-CC instrument is sufficiently characterized by one underlying construct, local dependence does not seem to be an issue, and 80% of the items in the APCR-CC instrument are sensitive to instruction.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	321-336
Number of pages	16
Journal	Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment
Volume	38
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282919846019
State	Published - Jun 1 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful to Megan Breit-Goodwin, Anne Cawley, Saba Gerami, Patrick Kimani, Nicole Lang, Dexter Lim, Angeliki Mali, Randy Nichols, Jon Oaks, Carla Stroud, and Judy Sutor who assisted with refining the APCR-CC instrument and collecting data for this project. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant #1561436, Algebra Instruction at Community Colleges: An Exploration of Its Relationship With Student Success.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.

Keywords

algebra and precalculus concept readiness
college assessment
item response theory
psychometric analysis

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A Psychometric Analysis of the Algebra and Precalculus Concept Readiness Assessment for Community Colleges

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