Modeling Instructional Sensitivity Using a Longitudinal Multilevel Differential Item Functioning Approach

Abstract

Students’ performance in assessments is commonly attributed to more or less effective teaching. This implies that students’ responses are significantly affected by instruction. However, the assumption that outcome measures indeed are instructionally sensitive is scarcely investigated empirically. In the present study, we propose a longitudinal multilevel‐differential item functioning (DIF) model to combine two existing yet independent approaches to evaluate items’ instructional sensitivity. The model permits for a more informative judgment of instructional sensitivity, allowing the distinction of global and differential sensitivity. Exemplarily, the model is applied to two empirical data sets, with classical indices (Pretest–Posttest Difference Index and posttest multilevel‐DIF) computed for comparison. Results suggest that the approach works well in the application to empirical data, and may provide important information to test developers.