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SUMMARY:Open  Research Using Invalsi Data And Multilevel Models
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20230131T134000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20230131T140500Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260907T154656Z
UID:indico-contribution-656@cern.ch
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Maraviglia Lorenzo  (INVALSI)\nThe purpose of the se
 ssion is to show how\, thanks to the opportunities disclosed by the develo
 pment of practices related to the idea of Open Research\, it is possible (
 even for an independent researcher) to address issues of great cognitive a
 nd practical importance through the combination of high-quality open data\
 , accessible computing tools and advanced statistical models.\nSpecificall
 y\, the data taken into consideration are INVALSI open data on students’
  mathematic skills\; the data manipulation resource is R\, a high-level pr
 ogramming language whose interface can be freely downloaded and installed 
 by everybody\; the statistical tools belong to the family of multilevel re
 gression models\, which can now be implemented through very sophisticated 
 Bayesian algorithms.\nThe combined use of data\, resources and models will
  be illustrated and developed in connection with the treatment of a very d
 elicate problem: the possibility that\, in our country\, students with a m
 igrant background may suffer a penalty which is not justified by their act
 ual level of skills and abilities but\, rather\, depends on some sort of b
 ias rooted in the evaluation systems implemented by the schools.\nThe topi
 c is of particular interest since the share of foreign students (or studen
 ts with a migrant background) is expected to increase sharply in the next 
 decade. To give adequate relevance to the issue\, it must be observed that
  in our Country schools are the main – some would say the only – agenc
 y for the integration of immigrants. Therefore\, the perspectives of our s
 ociety crucially depend on how efficiently schools will be able to carry o
 ut their tasks.\nThe INVALSI data allow us to approach the problem of scho
 ols’ fairness in an objective way.  The standardized nature of INVALSI t
 ests helps us to try to identify the presence of potential bias in the ove
 rall evaluation system. A possible research question can be formulated in 
 these terms: Invalsi scores being equal\, do Italian and foreign students 
 receive (approximately) the same marks by their teachers? \nThe INVALSI sc
 ore is aimed at assessing fundamental abilities – for example general ma
 thematic skills – thorough the administration of standardized tests\; on
  the other hand\, marks are the outcome of a complex evaluation carried ou
 t by teachers – a kind of assessment that considers many other factors\,
  for example behavioural ones. Any discrepancy between standardized scores
  and marks could be a sign of limitations in the former\, which is plausib
 le\, but also a clue of some bias in the way schools evaluate students wit
 h a migratory background (which cannot be excluded on an a priori base: af
 ter all\, despite a growing number of foreign students almost 100% of our 
 teaching body is made by Italian teachers).\nIn order to address these iss
 ues\, and provide a contribution to the discussion\, it is necessary to ap
 proach the data with tools that allow us to extract as much information as
  possible from them\, without introducing further distorting factors. This
  is essentially an open process\, which must be subjected to strict critic
 al supervision and requires transparency\; the tools and techniques that w
 ill be illustrated seek\, precisely\, to build a transparent path to open 
 discussion and criticism.\n\nhttps://indico.unina.it/event/60/contribution
 s/656/
LOCATION:Complesso S. Marcellino e Festo G4
URL:https://indico.unina.it/event/60/contributions/656/
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