The Attitudes of Teachers in One County in Kansas Toward Their School Improvement Plan Assessments

Abstract

In 1989, the Kansas State Board of Education initiated a process for school reform in Kansas which resulted in Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA). A key component of the QPA process is the school improvement plan. School improvement plans include a variety of assessments to measure and document student learning. This study was designed to investigate the attitudes of teachers in one county in Kansas toward the assessments they chose to measure student learning.

Three questions guided this study: Question 1: Do the attitudes of primary, intermediate, middle, secondary, and 'other' level teachers differ regarding particular assessments chosen for their school improvement plans? Question 2: Do the attitudes of teachers who were involved in the decision-making process differ from the attitudes of teachers who were not involved in the process? Question 3: Do the attitudes of teachers differ toward particular types of assessments?

Using the Teacher Attitude Survey, data were collected from teachers regarding their attitudes toward seven types of assessments used in school improvement plans: standardized norm-referenced tests, criterion-referenced tests, the Kansas Reading Assessment, portfolio assessment, the Kansas Writing Assessment, publishers' textbook tests, and Accelerated Reader™ tests.

Initial data analysis included calculating mean scores and standard deviations for each assessment type according to the independent variables of teaching level and participation in decision making. One-way analysis of variance and paired sample t-tests were also conducted to examine differences between teachers' attitudes.

Significant differences between attitudes of teachers of various levels of students were identified for three assessments: standardized norm-referenced tests, criterion-referenced tests, and the Kansas Reading Assessment. Generally, teachers of younger students held more negative attitudes than teachers of older students.

Significant differences between the attitudes of teachers according to level of participation in decision making were identified Teachers who provided input into the decision to use particular assessments held more positive attitudes toward those assessments than teachers who did not provide input with one exception. Based on level of decision input, there were no significant differences in attitudes regarding standardized norm-referenced tests. In general, teachers held the most positive attitudes toward portfolio assessment and the most negative attitudes toward standardized norm-referenced tests.