Speed Gaps: Exploring Differences in Response Latencies Among Groups

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-11-2019

Publication Title

Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice

First page number:

1

Last page number:

12

Abstract

There is much discussion about and many policies to address achievement gaps in education among groups of students. The focus here is on a different gap and it is argued that it also should be of concern. Speed gaps are differences in how quickly different groups of students answer the questions on academic assessments. To investigate some speed gaps, response times from approximately 75,000 untimed online assessments were compared by English language learning proficiency, student gender, and ethnicity. Also examined were the relationships between response time and accuracy for these groups. The differences observed lead to recommendations for assessment accommodations and teaching strategies for taking assessments.

Keywords

Ability; Achievement gaps; Equity; Personalized learning; Response times

Disciplines

Educational Psychology

Language

English

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