| The Assessment Practices Inventory, Revised, (APIR) was developed to measure the self-perceived ability to apply best assessment practices skills in their classrooms (&agr = .967). When examined using the Rasch rating scale model, the APIR covers the middle range of the theoretical construct.A principle component analysis with a varimax rotation yielded six factors (61.87% of variance), which represents the total amount of variability accounted for in the theoretical construct represented by these factors: (1) Teacher Assessment Development and Application (TADA) (2) Formative Assessment (FA) (3) Teacher-Oriented Grading Related Activities (TOGRA) (4) Externally Required Assessment Skills (e.g., standardized testing, IEP, portfolios, and performance assessment) (ERAS) (5) Student-Oriented Grading Related Activities (SOGRA) and (6) Ethics.ANOVA results indicate a total score difference between the content areas (CO) (F = 2.202, p = .036), certification areas (CE) (F = 4.058, p = .0 19), and those who have (not) taken assessment (measurement) courses (ME) (F = 6.200, p = .014).Significant scale score (and scale) differences were found using MANOVA in CO (Wilks' lambda (&Lambda = 1.532, p = .015)) follow-up ANOVA are (scales = FA (F = 2.500, p = .018)), TOGRA (F = 2.668, p = .012), and ERAS ( F = 2.805, p = .009) CE (Wilks' lambda (&Lambda = 3.588, p = .000)) follow-up ANOVAs are (scales = TADA ( F = 3.903, p = .022), FA (F = 5.215, p = .006), TOGRA (F = 4.369, p = .014), and SOGRA (F = 8.271, p = .000)) and ME (Wilks' lambda (&Lambda = 3.892, p = .001) follow-up ANOVAs (scales = FA (F = 16.593, p = .000), TOGRA (F = 10.395, p = .002), and Ethics (F = 7.097, p = .008)).The APIR has demonstrated that sound psychometric properties to support further research in this area and assist states, districts, schools, and teachers in determining their professional development or higher education courses would be most useful in strengthening these critical classroom assessment practices that ultimately promote better student learning. |
