Psychometric analysis reveals removing differentially difficult items fails to reduce score disparities between Black and White students, indicating limited utility for eliminating test bias.
SUMMARY In this study, a substantial number of items that were appreciably more difficult for Black than for White students were eliminated from a verbal test and from a mathematical test. Shortening the tests by this method had relatively little effect on score differences between Black and White students. This method of selecting items for elimination resulted in tests that were decidedly more difficult for both student groups. These outcomes clearly limit the value of this method for use in developing tests.
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Flaugher et al. (1978) studied this question.
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