Junior High School Students' and Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment in Mathematics: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to compare the conceptions of assessment of junior high school students and teachers based on their responses in answering the scale with four domains namely: (a) improvement, (b) school accountability, (c) student accountability, and (d) irrelevant. There were 10 items created from each domain based on the definition provided by Brown et al. (2011) and the recent study of Magat et al., (2016). The scale was administered to 210 participants from a public and a private high school in Region 1 and National Capital Region in the Philippines. Significant differences were determined from this quantitative study using a Two-Factor Mixed Design (One Between-Groups Variable and One-Within Subjects Variable). More specifically, significant differences across the four domains of conceptions of assessment (p < .05) except for school accountability and student accountability. There was also a significant difference between the students and teachers conceptions (p < .05). Moreover, there was a significant interaction across the four domains and the two groups of respondents (p < .05). Upon analysis, there were practical and theoretical implications for students, teachers, curriculum, and educational institutions. The researcher recommends havinga nationwide school-based orientation of assessment for teachers and students guided by their parents.