@EdWorkingPaper{ai24-1109,
title = "Making the Grade: Accounting for Course Selection in High School Transcripts with Item Response Theory",
author = "Kenneth A. Shores, Sanford R. Student",
institution = "Annenberg Institute at Brown University",
number = "1109",
year = "2024",
month = "December",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai24-1109",
abstract = {We apply Item Response Theory (IRT) to high school transcript data, treating courses as items and grades as ordered responses, to estimate both student transcript strength (θ ̂) and course difficulty. We prove, via construct and predictive validation and simulation, that θ ̂ improves upon GPA because it accounts for ability selection into courses with variable difficulty. Compared to the SAT, θ ̂ shows smaller racial/ethnic gaps but substantially larger gender gaps that indicate boys underperform in their courses relative to their standardized test scores.},
}