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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Accommodations Given to Students With Learning Impairments: Ordinal and Interpretable Machine-Learning-Based Methodology | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Accommodations Given to Students With Learning Impairments: Ordinal and Interpretable Machine-Learning-Based Methodology


Abstract:

In most academic institutions, students with learning impairments (LIs) are entitled to various accommodations as a means of compensating for their impairment. Ensuring t...Show More

Abstract:

In most academic institutions, students with learning impairments (LIs) are entitled to various accommodations as a means of compensating for their impairment. Ensuring that the appropriate accommodations were selected requires an intelligent support tool to track their effectiveness. In this article, we regard the effectiveness of such accommodations in terms of their quality and reliability. High-quality accommodations allow students with LIs equal access and equal opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge compared to their peers who do not have LIs. Highly reliable accommodations mean a significant performance difference between students with LIs who actually use the accommodations compared with students with LIs who do not use the accommodations, given similar student characteristics. Previous literature is inconclusive regarding the evidence of the effectiveness of such accommodations since different accommodations may have a different effect on different subgroups of exams and students. This article proposes a methodology, based on ordinal interpretable models, that produce practical insights to professionals who are responsible for students with LIs, to address the problem of exploring the effectiveness of learning accommodations. The suggested models use the ordinal information of the target variables for evaluating student performance and yield practical insights for designing the most suitable accommodation for a student with LIs based on their characteristics. The ordinal interpretable models are evaluated using a database of tens of thousands of engineering students. The results demonstrate that the suggested interpretable models perform significantly better than the compared algorithms on all measures.
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies ( Volume: 15, Issue: 6, 01 December 2022)
Page(s): 736 - 746
Date of Publication: 14 October 2022

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Author image of Gonen Singer
Engineering Faculty, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Gonen Singer received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2000, 2001, and 2006, respectively, all in industrial engineering and management.
He is currently an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering and Data Science with Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. His research interests include the development of machine learning algorithms and optimization methods to real-w...Show More
Gonen Singer received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2000, 2001, and 2006, respectively, all in industrial engineering and management.
He is currently an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering and Data Science with Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. His research interests include the development of machine learning algorithms and optimization methods to real-w...View more
Author image of Maya Golan
School of Industrial Engineering and Management, Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Maya Golan received the B.Sc., M.B.A (cum laude), and Ph.D. degrees from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, in 2000, 2003, and 2009, respectively, all in behavioral sciences and management.
She is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering, Tel Aviv, Israel. Her current research interests include in...Show More
Maya Golan received the B.Sc., M.B.A (cum laude), and Ph.D. degrees from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, in 2000, 2003, and 2009, respectively, all in behavioral sciences and management.
She is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering, Tel Aviv, Israel. Her current research interests include in...View more
Author image of Rachel Shiff
School of Education, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Rachel Shiff received the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in psychology and education from Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, in 1979, 1991, and 1998, respectively.
She is currently a Professor with the School of Education, Bar Ilan University, where she founded the Learning Disabilities M.A. program, and the Haddad Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities, which bring together researchers, diagnosticians, and reme...Show More
Rachel Shiff received the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in psychology and education from Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, in 1979, 1991, and 1998, respectively.
She is currently a Professor with the School of Education, Bar Ilan University, where she founded the Learning Disabilities M.A. program, and the Haddad Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities, which bring together researchers, diagnosticians, and reme...View more
Author image of Dvir Kleper
National Institute for Testing & Evaluation in Israel (NITE), Jerusalem, Israel
Dvir Kleper received the B.Sc. degree in applied mathematics and physics from Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, the M.Sc. degree in mathematics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and the Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1998, 2001, and 2008, respectively.
He is a Mathematician and a Senior Research Scientist with the Research & Development Depart...Show More
Dvir Kleper received the B.Sc. degree in applied mathematics and physics from Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, the M.Sc. degree in mathematics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and the Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1998, 2001, and 2008, respectively.
He is a Mathematician and a Senior Research Scientist with the Research & Development Depart...View more

Author image of Gonen Singer
Engineering Faculty, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Gonen Singer received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2000, 2001, and 2006, respectively, all in industrial engineering and management.
He is currently an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering and Data Science with Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. His research interests include the development of machine learning algorithms and optimization methods to real-world problems of a social nature.
Gonen Singer received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2000, 2001, and 2006, respectively, all in industrial engineering and management.
He is currently an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering and Data Science with Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. His research interests include the development of machine learning algorithms and optimization methods to real-world problems of a social nature.View more
Author image of Maya Golan
School of Industrial Engineering and Management, Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Maya Golan received the B.Sc., M.B.A (cum laude), and Ph.D. degrees from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, in 2000, 2003, and 2009, respectively, all in behavioral sciences and management.
She is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering, Tel Aviv, Israel. Her current research interests include industrial psychology, employee helping processes, and ergonomics.
Maya Golan received the B.Sc., M.B.A (cum laude), and Ph.D. degrees from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, in 2000, 2003, and 2009, respectively, all in behavioral sciences and management.
She is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering, Tel Aviv, Israel. Her current research interests include industrial psychology, employee helping processes, and ergonomics.View more
Author image of Rachel Shiff
School of Education, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Rachel Shiff received the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in psychology and education from Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, in 1979, 1991, and 1998, respectively.
She is currently a Professor with the School of Education, Bar Ilan University, where she founded the Learning Disabilities M.A. program, and the Haddad Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities, which bring together researchers, diagnosticians, and remedial instructors for the improvement of students with learning disabilities. Her research interests include literacy, linguistic, and cognitive abilities of adults and children with learning disabilities.
Rachel Shiff received the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in psychology and education from Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, in 1979, 1991, and 1998, respectively.
She is currently a Professor with the School of Education, Bar Ilan University, where she founded the Learning Disabilities M.A. program, and the Haddad Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities, which bring together researchers, diagnosticians, and remedial instructors for the improvement of students with learning disabilities. Her research interests include literacy, linguistic, and cognitive abilities of adults and children with learning disabilities.View more
Author image of Dvir Kleper
National Institute for Testing & Evaluation in Israel (NITE), Jerusalem, Israel
Dvir Kleper received the B.Sc. degree in applied mathematics and physics from Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, the M.Sc. degree in mathematics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and the Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1998, 2001, and 2008, respectively.
He is a Mathematician and a Senior Research Scientist with the Research & Development Department, National Institute for Testing & Evaluation, Jerusalem, Israel. His primary research interests include educational measurement, statistics, and mathematics. In recent years, he enjoys doing that by applying advanced statistical models to the educational system area.
Dvir Kleper received the B.Sc. degree in applied mathematics and physics from Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, the M.Sc. degree in mathematics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and the Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1998, 2001, and 2008, respectively.
He is a Mathematician and a Senior Research Scientist with the Research & Development Department, National Institute for Testing & Evaluation, Jerusalem, Israel. His primary research interests include educational measurement, statistics, and mathematics. In recent years, he enjoys doing that by applying advanced statistical models to the educational system area.View more
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