Secondary Teachers' Assessment Literacy: Does Classroom Experience Make A Difference?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Assessing student performance is one of most critical aspects of job of a classroom teacher, but many teachers do not feel adequately prepared to assess their students' performance. In order to measure and compare secondary preservice and inservice teachers' literacy, both groups were surveyed using Classroom Assessment Literacy Inventory (CALI), which was designed to parallel Standards for Teacher Competence in Educational Assessment of Students. Inservice teachers performed highest on Administering, Scoring, and Interpreting Results of Assessments and lowest on Developing Valid Grading Procedures. Preservice teachers performed higher on Choosing Appropriate Assessment Methods and lowest on Developing Valid Grading Procedures. Comparisons between two groups revealed significant differences on five of seven competency areas, as well as on total scores. In all cases where significant differences were found, secondary inservice teachers scored higher than their preservice counterparts. BACKGROUND It has been estimated that teachers spend up to 50 percent of their time on assessment-related activities (Plaice, 1993). Regardless of amount of time spent on it, classroom assessment is a vitally important teaching function; it contributes to every other teacher function (Brookhart, 1998, 1999b). Sound assessment and grading practice help teachers to improve their instruction, improve students' motivation to learn, and increase students' levels of achievement (Brookhart, 1 999a). According to Stiggins (1999a), The quality of instruction in any classroom turns on quality of assessments used there (p. 20). For all of these reasons, information resulting from classroom assessments must be meaningful and accurate; i.e., information must be valid and reliable (Brookhart, 1999a). In recent years, public and governmental attention has shifted to school achievement as evidenced by performance on standardized achievement tests (Campbell, Murphy, & Holt, 2002; U.S. Department of Education, n.d.). Additionally, expectations regarding teachers' assessment expertise were increased. Teachers have been required to develop classroom assessments that align curriculum with state standards as a means of improving test scores (Campbell et al. 2002). New research on relationship between classroom assessments and student performance on standardized tests reveals that improving quality of classroom assessments can increase average scores on large-scale assessments as much as 3/4 of a SD (as much as four grade equivalents or 15-20 percentile points), representing a huge potential (Stiggins, 1999a). Ironically, in this age of increased emphasis on testing and assessment, many colleges of education and state education agencies do not require preservice teachers to complete specific coursework in classroom assessment (Campbell et al. 2002), and many inservice teachers have reported that they were not well prepared to assess student learning (Plake, 1993). Furthermore, these teachers claimed that lack of adequate preparation is largely due to inadequate preservice training in area of educational measurement (Plake, 1993). Brookhart (2001) also cited literature that calls for an increase in emphasis in teacher preparation programs on classroom assessment and a decrease in emphasis on large-scale testing. Studies have generally concluded that teachers' skills in both areas are limited. Brookhart (2001) summarized research on teachers' assessment practices by stating that teachers apparently do better at classroom applications than at interpreting standardized tests (likely due to nature of their work). Additionally, they lack expertise at test construction. WHAT is ASSESSMENT LITERACY? Assessment literacy has been defined as the possession of knowledge about basic principles of sound assessment practice, including terminology, development and use of assessment methodologies and techniques, familiarity with standards of quality in assessment. …

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