This study evaluated differential item functioning (DIF) in achievement motivation items before and after using anchoring vignettes as a statistical tool to account for group differences in response styles across gender and ethnicity. We applied the nonparametric scoring of the vignettes to motivation items from the 2015 Programme for…

In the context of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), paradoxical findings concerning the relationship between questionnaire scales and student achievement are often documented. These questionnaire scales are found to correlate positively with student achievement within countries at the individual level, but negatively at the…

Empirical evidence suggests children's socio-emotional skills--an important determinant of school achievement--vary according to socioeconomic family background. This study assesses the degree to which differences in socio-emotional skills contribute to the achievement gap between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged children. We used…