Rasch Analysis of Catholic School Survey Data

J Appl Meas. 2019;20(3):259-271.

Abstract

Tracking changes over time, especially as schools transition to a new operating model, is important to understand the effects of the model on students' perceptions and experiences. An accurate measure of such changes requires a stable measure of item difficulty, which the Rasch model can provide. The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research has applied Rasch analysis to surveys in Chicago Public Schools since 1991; these surveys (in whole or in part) are now used in many non-public schools as well. We examine Rasch measures derived from these survey data in 15 Catholic schools in five U.S. communities, and compare them to previous results from public schools. We also study changes in these measures over time, and their relationship to student academic outcomes. In our sample, the student and teacher surveys provide reliable individual school climate measures, but we are unable to differentiate between schools, likely due to the homogeneity of the schools.

MeSH terms

  • Catholicism*
  • Chicago
  • Humans
  • Psychometrics*
  • Schools*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires