ABSTRACT
Background and Context
Educators and researchers are interested in building the computational thinking (CT) skills of K-12 students. However, the availability of language-agnostic assessments for lower elementary graders remains limited.
Objective
We present preliminary insights into the reliability and validity of the Computational Thinking Assessment for Elementary Students (CTAES), a new assessment to measure 3rd-5th grade students’ CT abilities.
Method
The CTAES was administered to 222 3rd-5th grade students. We conducted Rasch analyses, focusing on dimensionality, separation characteristics, and differential item functioning.
Findings
The CTAES appears to be unidimensional, primarily assessing students’ CT skills. Students with lower CT proficiency demonstrate lower likelihood of correctly responding to assessment items compared to peers with higher CT proficiency levels. Preliminary evidence suggests that the assessment does not exhibit bias based on gender or racial/ethnic background.
Implications
Initial findings suggest that the CTAES holds promise as a reliable and valid assessment tool, although there remain opportunities for further refinement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Lai (Citation2021) provides a more extensive history of CT assessments and explains the tension between domain-general and domain-specific assessments; relatedly, Tang et al. (Citation2020) provide a systematic review of CT assessments as of 2017.
2. The assessment has since been validated and published (Rachmatullah et al., Citation2020).
3. The CTAES can be accessed at: https://nyu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4NPL0BfuUQmQcZg