Education Commons^™

U.S. Teachers' Conceptions Of The Purposes Of Assessment, Nicole Barnes, Helenrose Fives, Charity M. Dacey

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Teachers' conceptions about assessment influence their classroom assessment practices. In this investigation, we examined 179 K-12 teachers' conceptions of the purposes of assessment from a person-centered perspective. An exploratory factor analysis of teachers' responses to the Conceptions of Assessment Instrument yielded a three-factor model: assessment as valid for accountability, improves teaching and learning, and as irrelevant. Next, we used cluster analysis to identify belief profiles of teacher groups: Cluster-1: Moderate, Cluster-2: Irrelevant, Cluster-3: Teaching and Learning. Within and across cluster comparisons revealed significant differences indicating that these are distinct profiles: teachers can, and do, hold multiple beliefs about assessment simultaneously.