Within-Variable, between Occasion Error Covariances in Models of Educational Achievement

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Abstract
To correct for the effects of measurement error on structural parameter estimates, many researchers are now estimating models of educational achievement with LISREL. In order to estimate such models it is desirable to obtain multiple manifest measures of the latent constructs. Many researchers restrict their models to two manifest measures per latent construct for reasons of economy, but doing so assumes in the absence of external information that all of the covariance between the within-variable measures is reliable covariance. Such an assumption may or may not hold in practice. Using data from High School and Beyond, the present study empirically investigates the extent of within-variable, between-occasion error covariances among variables typically included in models of educational achievement.