IJSER (ISSN 2229-5518) - Bhutanese Elementary Teachers’ Assessment Beliefs, Assessment Practices and Assessment Literacy

Thesis Details

Author - Hemlata Karki

Education

Country - Australia

Email -

hemlatakarki@education.gov.bt

Department - School of Education

University - The University of Adelaide

Guide Name - Lynda Macleod

IJSER Edition 3/12/2024

INTRODUCTION

Teachers’ assessment conceptions/beliefs, assessment practices, and assessment literacy level are important as they inform classroom assessment decision making of teachers. The purpose of this study was to investigate Bhutanese elementary teachers' conceptions/beliefs about assessment, assessment practices, and level of assessment literacy to get an insight into teachers' implementation of formative assessment. The assessment conceptions/beliefs were measured using the abridged version of the CoA-III inventory proposed by Brown (2006). The CoA includes four pre-determined assessment conceptions: assessment for improvement, assessment for student accountability, assessment for school accountability, and assessment as an irrelevance. The assessment practices were measured under the themes of formative assessment, summative assessment, and assessment design adapted from the instrument designed by McMillian et al (2002). The level of assessment literacy was measured using the Classroom Assessment Literacy Inventory (Mertler, 2003). The study collected data from 112 elementary teachers, teaching any subject from Pre-Primary to Garde 6, using an online, web-based survey in Survey Monkey. The findings showed that teachers agreed more with the improvement purpose of assessment, however, they did not disagree with the irrelevance conception. There was a strong correlation between improvement and student accountability conception (r=.71) and a positive association between improvement and irrelevance conception (r=.14). The teachers valued all assessment practices almost equally, formative assessment (M)=3.94, summative assessment (M)=3.71, assessment design (M)=3.75. The average score in assessment literacy was 8.82 on 21 points (42%). 62.2% of teachers scored at a low level, 30.8% scored at a medium level and 6.95% scored at a high level. It was concluded that teachers have positive beliefs about assessment, but they often experience an assessment practice dilemma between improvement and accountability purposes of assessment. These findings will be useful for policymakers, school leaders, and teacher educators in formulating policies, conducting professional development programs, and improving teacher education programs to support effective implementation of formative assessment.