A correlational analysis of test anxiety and response time on a computerized adaptive math test among seventh grade students by gender

Studies have shown that test anxiety has become more prevalent since the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and that test anxiety negatively affects student achievement. Early research viewed test anxiety as being a unidimensional construct; however, recent research has purported that test anxiety is a multidimensional construct. Consequently, test anxiety being viewed as multidimensional has changed how test anxiety is measured as evidenced by the development of multidimensional test anxiety measurement scales. Literature indicates that there is a gap in the study of K-12 test anxiety and response time data on assessments. A nonexperimental correlational research design was used for this study. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between multidimensional test anxiety measures and the response time of students taking a computerized adaptive math assessment, the Measures of Academic ProgressRTM (MAP RTM) by the Northwest Evaluation Association(TM) (NWEA(TM)), while controlling for gender. Participants for the study were 215 seventh grade math students at a school in the West. The test anxiety of participants was measured using the Children's Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS). The response time data was captured by the NWEA(TM) MAPRTM math tests. Spearman correlations were used to examine the relationship between test anxiety and response time. No statistically significant relationships were found. Recommendations for future research are to examine relationships between test anxiety and RTE using different normative thresholds (NT) and utilizing other multidimensional test anxiety scales as they become commercially available.