Differences in Performance between Children Using the English and Spanish Versions of the Ignite by Hatch™ Educational Gaming System. CEME Technical Report. CEMETR-2023-01

This study sought to investigate whether there were performance differences between the children who engaged with the Ignite by Hatch™ educational gaming system using the English- or Spanish-language versions of the games. Differential item functioning methods (DIF) were employed to investigate these differences. Specifically, DIF analyses can address these issues by providing evidence that the response process does not advantage any particular subgroup of children. DIF analyses can separate performance differences on specific games from individual differences in child ability. Focal and reference categories of children are identified to investigate DIF. We examined the focal group (Spanish) to gather evidence to demonstrate that the games are fair to the members of that particular subgroup. The reference group is typically the majority group (English), and the presumption is that the games are generally fair for the children in that group.