Primary school teachers’ conceptions and practices of assessment and its relationship

Abstract

While much is known about assessment, a study examining the conceptions that teachers hold and its relation with their practices in mathematics classrooms is crucial for educators and needs further investigation. This cross-sectional survey study examined teachers’ conceptions and practices of classroom assessment and the relationships between them. Data were collected using a questionnaire from 228 mathematics teachers who were randomly selected from 98 primary schools. The result revealed that teachers mostly agreed to accountability and improvement conceptions and slightly agreed to the irrelevance conception of assessment. They also practiced mixed and different assessment types though they were focused practicing more on the assessment of learning. The moderate and positive relationship found between teachers’ assessment conceptions and practices (subgroups) revealed that the conceptions that teachers have about classroom assessment influenced their practices and it can account for only 27.3% of the variation in their practices. The study suggests that teachers practiced assessment consistent with their conceptions.