Equity Issues with Standardized Research-based Conceptual Learning Assessment Instruments (RBCLAIs)

Currently there exists over 100 RBCLAs throughout DBER. Few of these RBCLAs account for fairness of items between different populations of participants. Using Differential Item Functioning, my co-researchers and I identified unfair items on three common Physics RBCLAIs: Force Concept Inventory, Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation and the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism. Now that we have determined how to identify unfair questions, several equity issues involving these ``unfair'' questions and how they should be used/treated in the future have arisen. Specifically, should RBCLAI: be left as is with removal of unfair questions after collecting data, be rewritten to remove unfair questions, completely rewritten with fair items and finally should unfair questions be studied to identify fundamental differences between different populations. In this Round-table we will discuss these issues.