Investigating the Measurement Invariance of the TIMSS 2023 Students’ School Experiences and Practices Scale Across Gender and Supervising Authority in Jordan

The study aimed to investigate the measurement invariance of the Student School Experiences and Practices Scale in the TIMSS 2023 Grade 8 Student Questionnaire across gender and school supervisory authority (government/non-government), while providing evidence of score validity and examining differences across subscales. A descriptive-correlational design was employed. The original sample comprised 6,962 students selected through multistage probability proportional-to-size sampling. After excluding outliers, the analysis included 5,379 students (2,786 girls and 2,593 boys), including 3,878 from government schools and 1,501 from non-government schools. The results showed that items loaded on their respective latent factors, with an explained variance of 0.64. The two-factor model demonstrated the best fit to the data. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance were established across gender and school supervisory authority. Significant differences were found. School belonging was higher among girls (difference = 0.124) and students in non-government schools (difference = 0.072). Exposure to bullying was lower among girls than boys (difference = −0.646) and higher among students in non-government than government schools (difference = 0.136). The study recommends examining the factor structure and measurement invariance of other scales included in the TIMSS 2023 Student Questionnaire. Keywords: Measurement Invariance, Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Score Validity, Bullying, TIMSS