Differential item functioning of teacher-rated universal mental health screening in elementary schools.

Abstract

Recommendations, resources, and policy for schools to implement a continuum or multitiered system of prevention and intervention supports (MTSS) for academic, behavioral, and mental health functioning continue to increase. Accurate and meaningful data, including universal screening, are a central component of MTSS and must perform consistently across racially and ethnically diverse student groups. The present study examined scores from the Behavior Intervention Monitoring Assessment System-Second Edition, a universal mental health screening tool used widely in large, racially diverse school districts, as a function of student race to identify any differential functioning in the assessment. Participants included 1,168 students (68% Black and 32% White) rated by their 4^th- or 5^th-grade teacher across nine elementary schools in a partnering school district in the Southeastern United States. Results from an item response theory approach using differential item functioning revealed several items with differential item functioning by student race on subscales included in the measure's Behavioral Concerns Scale and Adaptive Scale. In addition, differential item functioning items were found to impact students' risk status in these domains, specifically the Negative Affect and Social subscales, as well as all items on Academic Functioning performing differently between groups. These findings are problematic for using the Behavior Intervention Monitoring Assessment System-Second Edition as a universal mental health screening assessment in the MTSS of a racially diverse school or district. Future research should explore other facets of the Behavior Intervention Monitoring Assessment System-Second Edition and similar screening instruments that may be driving differential ratings including improvements to the instrument and efforts to mitigate misidentification. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).