Development and Validation of Teachers’ Assessment Belief of Mathematical Thinking Instrument

<p style="text-align: justify;">This study was conducted to corroborate in understanding the teachers’ beliefs about assessment practices. The prior studies related to teachers’ assessment beliefs in mathematics have been done to assess teachers’ beliefs in the general context of mathematics teaching. This study developed an instrument to assess teachers’ assessment beliefs of mathematical thinking. The research aimed to develop and validate a scale of assessment beliefs of mathematical thinking by using the confirmatory factor analysis. The first draft of the scale contained 25 items. The sample of the study consisted of 537 mathematics teachers from public schools in Oman. The instrument was a questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale. The scale was validated by asking a number of experts in mathematics educational measurement and evaluation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was applied to test the model of assessment beliefs of mathematical thinking scale using AMOS 25.0. All constructs had acceptable reliability. The model had a good model fit for the assessment beliefs of mathematical thinking scale which obtainable from the fit indices tests. The findings revealed that all fit criteria indices were realized. The results also showed acceptable validity and construct reliability for the scale.</p>

Connecting the Dots: Pain Mental Models of Spousal Caregivers of Veterans with Dementia and Pain

Pain is prevalent among persons with dementia (PWDs), yet often goes underrecognized and undertreated. Exploring caregivers’ pain mental models may provide valuable insight into how they conceptualize pain, and how such conceptualizations affect their identification of and response to PWDs’ pain. We identified and described the pain mental model(s) of spousal caregivers of community-dwelling veterans with dementia and pain through a secondary qualitative thematic analysis of recordings of a psychosocial intervention aimed at preventing aggression in PWDs with pain. Thirty female spousal caregivers (11 Black, 10 non-Hispanic White, and 9 Hispanic) comprised the present sample. Two themes were identified: Pain Assessment Beliefs and Knowledge (PA) and Pain Management Beliefs and Knowledge (PM). In our proposed mental model framework, PA and PM affect the ways caregivers answer two PA-related questions (Is there a problem?, Is this problem pain?) and three PM-related questions (Is the pain treatable?, Is it worth treating?, How do I prefer to treat it?). Caregivers are moved to action when they “connect the dots” by identifying a problem in PWDs’ behavior, labeling the problem as pain, and identifying a response (i.e., a treatment approach) they consider worth trying. Disconnects in caregiver understanding of PWDs’ behavior are common in this sample, and predictably lead to inaction. The proposed mental model provides further explanation about how caregivers do or do not synthesize and apply pain knowledge and experience, allowing for the identification of potential areas of intervention (e.g., pain psychoeducation) to improve pain treatment for the PWDs under their care.

Hubungan Keyakinan dan Noticing dari Calon Guru Sekolah Dasar Mengenai Asesmen Matematika

AbstrakPenelitian ini dilatarbelakangi oleh pandangan bahwa keyakinan mengenai asesmen mempengaruhi praktek asesmen di dalam kelas. Sementara itu, noticing adalah komponen penting dalam pengembangan kemampuan calon guru untuk memahami praktek asesmen. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah menyelidiki dan mendeskripsikan hubungan antara keyakinan dengan kemampuan noticing dari calon guru sekolah dasar mengenai asesmen matematika. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kuantitatif korelasional terhadap 68 calon guru sekolah dasar. Data keyakinan mengenai asesmen matematika dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan kuisioner. Sementara data noticing asesmen dikumpulkan dengan video task analysis. Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan statistik deskriptif dan inferensial.. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan tidak terdapat korelasi signifikan antara keyakinan mengenai asesmen dan noticing asesmen. Hasil penelitian juga menunjukkan karateristik noticing cenderung fokus pada aspek “mengajukan pertanyaan” dan tidak komprehensif. Selain itu, calon guru juga cenderung memegang keyakinan produktif namun tidak konsisten. Relationship between Beliefs and Noticing of Pre-service Elementary Teachers Regarding Mathematics AssessmentAbstractThis research is motivated by the view that assessment beliefs affect assessment practice in a classroom. Meanwhile, noticing is an important component in the development of assessment practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the relationship between mathematics assessment beliefs and noticing mathematics assessment. This research is quantitative with a correlational study involving 68 pre-service elementary teachers. Mathematics assessment belief data were collected using a questionnaire. Meanwhile, noticing mathematics assessment data was collected using video task analysis. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics The results showed that there was no significant correlation between mathematics assessment belief and noticing mathematics assessment. The results also showed that noticing characteristics tended to focus on the "questioning" aspect and were not comprehensive. Pre-service elementary teachers also tend to hold productive but inconsistent beliefs.

The Policy-driven Dimensions of Teacher Beliefs about Assessment Assessment

Despite the advancement of the conceptualisations of teacher assessment literacy, teachers’ assessment practices remain relatively low due to misalignment between teachers’ beliefs on assessment and principles of effective assessment practices. The currentassessment reform in the Philippines has not gained significant traction despite the ongoing professional development programs focused on enhancing teacher assessment literacy. We argue that to change teachers’ exam-dominated assessment practices towards a more student-centred approach, there is a need to explore teachers’ beliefs in assessment. Hence, we developed a context-driven tool using both theoretical and empirical approaches that could measure this construct, and which the results could provide a stronger foundation for professional development program. Factor analyses extracted nine dimensions that describe teachers’ assessment beliefs: assessment for professional learning, for motivation, for measurement, for planning, for engagement, for learning, for evaluation, for norm-referencing and for instructional accountability. Implications of findings for teacher professional development and practice are discussed.

Assessment Beliefs and Practices of Libyan Secondary School English Language Teachers

Despite the increasing concerns about the importance of assessment, the studies that directly address the assessment beliefs and practices among Libyan secondary school English language teachers are scarce. The present study aimed to investigate the Libyan teachers’ classroom-based assessment beliefs and practices and the relationship between them. For this purpose, a total of 90 Libyan English teachers participated in a survey by responding to a questionnaire which explored their beliefs and practices in the four stages of assessment; namely, planning, implementing, monitoring and recording. Based on their perceptions, other than their confusion over ethical matters in assessment, the teachers’ beliefs and practices generally seemed to be at an acceptable level. The results also demonstrated that the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices is positively moderate and significant in all stages of assessment. The findings are expected to provide insights into the difficulties encountered by the language teachers and learners in the assessment processes, and therefore, enhance assessment practice and learning conditions.

Chemistry critical friendships: investigating chemistry-specific discourse within a domain-general discussion of best practices for inquiry assessments

High school chemistry teachers struggle to use assessment results to inform instruction. In the absence of expert assistance, teachers often look to their peers for guidance and support; however, little is known about the assessment beliefs and practices of high school chemistry teachers or the discourse mechanisms used as teachers support one another. Presented in this paper are the results from analyzing a discussion between five high school chemistry teachers as they generated a set of best practices for inquiry assessments. To analyze the discussion, a novel representation called a discourse map was generated to align the analyses conducted on chemistry teacher discourse as they temporally occurred. Results show the utility of the discourse map for evidencing critical friendship and assessment practices evoked by the teachers during the discussion of best practices. Implications for the structural considerations of materials and chemistry teacher professional development are presented as well as potential future investigations of teacher discourse regarding the use of data to inform instruction.