Table of Contents 133 | JISAE. Volume 6 Number 2 September 2020. https://doi.org/10.21009/JISAE JISAE (Journal of Indonesian Student Assessment and Evaluation) ISSN : P-ISSN: 2442-4919│E-ISSN: 2597-8934 Vol 6 No 2 (2020) Website : http://journal.unj.ac.id/unj/index.php/jisae A STUDY OF SELF-PERCEIVED ASSESSMENT SKILLS ON BASIC EDUCATION SCHOOL TEACHERS Yar Zar Chit 1* , May Hnit 2 1Department of Educational Psychology, Sagaing University of Education, Myanmar 2Basic Education High School, Nyaung Gone (North), Pyawbwe Township, Myanmar ABSTRACT The main of this study was to investigate the self-perceived assessment skills of basic education teachers. A total of 228 teachers from primary, middle and high schools (public and private schools) at Pyawbwe Township in Myanmar participated in this study. Descriptive research design and survey method were used in this study. An instrument: Self-Perceived Assessment Skills Questionnaire was used to collect required data. According to the results, there were significant differences in teachers’ constructing, administering assessment skills, and performance assessment skills by gender at 0.05 levels. Similarly, there were also significant differences in teachers’ grading skills and overall self-perceived assessment skills by gender at 0.01 levels. Besides, it was also found that there were significant differences in teachers’ performance assessment skills and grading skills by school type at 0.05 levels. Moreover, in the comparison of teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by position, the mean score of junior teachers is the highest and the mean score of primary teachers is the lowest. Similarly, in the comparison of teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by service, the mean score of teachers who have above 30-years service is the highest. Finally, this study expects that the school administrators can get any idea to recover and promote the teachers’ assessment skills with the cooperation of experts. Keywords: Self-Perceive, Assessment Skill, Performance Assessment, Ethic Address for Correspondence: yarzar02@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Teachers play substantial role in the classrooms. Teachers determine students’ achievement through their involvement and preparation during teaching and learning process. Teachers assess students throughout the school year and gradually monitor their progress. They record students’ achievement and extent of progress at the end of the year (Green, 1975, cited in Rani, 2013). According to Stiggins and Conklin (1992), teachers spent approximately one third to half of their time in the classroom to prepare and engage with assessment related activities. In the classroom, teachers are the primary assessors of students. They design assessment tools with two broad purposes; to collect information that will inform classroom instruction, and to monitor students’ progress towards achieving year-end outcomes. Teachers demonstrate that assessment is an essential part of learning. They model effective assessment strategies and include students in the development of assessment procedures. Assessment can indicate what part of teachers’ instruction needs rethinking and reworking. Appropriately used, classroom assessments have the potential to help both students and teachers to improve their classroom performance. In order to improve classroom http://journal.unj.ac.id/unj/index.php/jisae mailto:yarzar02@gmail.com 134 | JISAE. Volume 6 Number 2 September 2020. performance and use different type of assessments, teachers should have knowledge, skill and competence in the educational assessment of students. Classroom assessment is an essential component of teaching. Teachers assess students and gather information related to their progress in learning. Teachers assess students to identify how well students were developing skills and knowledge. Classroom assessment also helps teachers to identify what they taught and what they need to work on. Teachers use different forms of assessments to gather information about students. Generally, classroom assessment is defined as the process of collecting, synthesizing, and interpreting information to aid in classroom decision making. Teachers continuously gather and use information to make decisions about classroom management, instruction, student learning and planning (Russell & Airasian, 2012, cited in Rani, 2013). Therefore, it is very important for teachers to acquire all the skills needed in developing and choosing appropriate assessment in classrooms to inform their instructional decisions. Furthermore, teachers should master some basic competencies in order to construct valid and reliable items; administering, scoring and interpreting students’ results as well as using assessment results to make educational decisions. Therefore, they need to fulfill themselves to have good classroom assessment skills. This study emphasizes on basic education teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills. The main aim of this study is to investigate the self-perceived assessment skills of basic education teachers from Pyawbwe Township in Myanmar. The specific objectives are: 1. To examine teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills. 2. To compare teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by gender and school type. 3. To inspect teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by position and service. METHOD Samples The sample for this research was selected from Pyawbwe Township in Myanmar by using the simple random sampling technique. The participants were 228 teachers from 7 primary schools, 2 middle schools and 5 high schools (both public and private schools). Research Method In this study, descriptive research design and survey method were used. Instrument Questionnaire for the Teacher Self-Perceived Assessment Skills (Alkharusi, 2009) modified by Sara Mohammed Al-Bahlani (2019) was used to assess the self-perceived assessment skills of teachers. The questionnaire consisted of 27 items. It comprises five subscales. They are (1) constructing and administering assessment, (2) performance assessment, (3) grading, (4) communicating assessment results with others and (5) assessment ethics. The statements were designed to respond on four point rating scale. The choices were 1 = not competent, 2 = somewhat competent, 3 = competent and 4 = very competent. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Descriptive Statistics of Teachers’ Self-Perceived Assessment Skills According to Table 1, the sample mean (103.64) is larger than the theoretical mean (67.5). Therefore, it can be said that the teachers possess good assessment skills. Among the subscales, mean percentage of teachers’ performance assessment skills was highest (98.38%). However, grading skills was lowest (92.38%). 135 | JISAE. Volume 6 Number 2 September 2020. Table 1 Descriptive Statistics for Teachers’ Self-Perceived Assessment Skills Number of Items Mean Std. Deviation Mean Percentage Constructing and Administering Assessment 5 18.84 2.44 94.20% Performance Assessment 8 31.48 3.31 98.38% Grading 4 14.78 2.37 92.38% Communicating Assessment Results with Others 5 19.06 2.93 95.3% Assessment Ethics 5 19.48 2.87 97.4% Overall Self-Perceived Assessment Skills 27 103.64 11.30 Comparison of Male and Female Teachers’ Self-Perceived Assessment Skills To find out gender differences in teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills, descriptive analysis was made. The means and standard deviations of male and female teachers were reported in Table 2. Table 2 Descriptive Statistics for Teacher’s Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by Gender Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Constructing and Administering Assessment Male 38 18.00 2.63 Female 190 19.01 2.37 Performance Assessment Male 38 30.34 2.99 Female 190 31.71 3.34 Grading Male 38 13.76 2.12 Female 190 14.98 2.37 Communicating Assessment Results with Others Male 38 18.24 3.07 Female 190 19.23 2.88 Assessment Ethics Male 38 18.79 2.84 Female 190 19.62 2.87 Overall Self-Perceived Assessment Skills Male 38 99.13 11.09 Female 190 104.54 11.16 Table 2 also showed that there was slight difference in mean scores by gender in teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills. Again, to find out difference significantly, independent samples t test was used. It was reported in Table 3. Table 3 Independence Samples t test Results for Teacher’s Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by Gender Variable t df p Constructing and Administering Assessment -2.358* 226 .019 Performance Assessment -2.337* 226 .020 Grading -2.932** 226 .004 Communicating Assessment Results with Others -1.912 226 .057 Assessment Ethics -1.635 226 .103 Overall Self-Perceived Assessment Skills -2.732** 226 .007 136 | JISAE. Volume 6 Number 2 September 2020. Note. ** The mean difference is significant at 0.01 levels. * The mean difference is significant at 0.05 levels. According to Table 3, it was found that there were significant differences in teachers’ constructing, administering assessment skills and performance assessment skills by gender at 0.05 levels. Similarly, there were also significant differences in teachers’ grading skills and overall self-perceived assessment skills by gender at 0.01 levels. Therefore, it can be concluded that female teachers have better self-perceived assessment skills than male teachers. Comparison of Teachers’ Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by School Type To find out the comparison of teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by school type, descriptive analysis was made. The means and standard deviations of male and female teachers were reported in Table 4. Table 4 Descriptive Statistics for Teachers’ Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by School Type School Type N Mean Std. Deviation Constructing and Administering Assessment Public 209 18.85 2.52 Private 19 18.74 1.15 Performance Assessment Public 209 31.58 3.37 Private 19 30.37 2.41 Grading Public 209 14.87 2.39 Private 19 13.79 1.96 Communicating Assessment Results with Others Public 209 18.99 2.99 Private 19 19.89 2.08 Assessment Ethics Public 209 19.44 2.96 Private 19 20.00 1.56 Overall Self-Perceived Assessment Skills Public 209 103.72 11.62 Private 19 102.79 7.01 Table 4 also showed that there was slight difference in mean scores by school type in teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills. Again, to find out difference significantly, independent samples t test was used. It was reported in Table 5. According to Table 5, it was found that there were significant differences in teachers’ performance assessment skills and grading skills at 0.05 levels. Therefore, it can be concluded that public school teachers are more skillful in performance assessment and grading than private school teachers. This may be due to inefficient test and measurement training of private school teachers. Table 5 Independence Samples t test Results for Teachers’ Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by School Type Variable t df p Constructing and Administering Assessment .196 226 .845 Performance Assessment 1.529* 226 .049 Grading 1.905* 226 .048 Communicating Assessment Results with -1.294 226 .196 137 | JISAE. Volume 6 Number 2 September 2020. Others Assessment Ethics -.820 226 .413 Overall Self-Perceived Assessment Skills .342 226 .733 Note. * The mean difference is significant at 0.05 levels. Comparison of Teacher’s Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by Position Table 6 showed the comparison of teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by position. In assessment skills, mean score of junior teachers is the highest and that of primary teachers is the lowest. It may be due to the new curriculum of basic education in Myanmar. The new curriculum emphasizes to use many alternative assessments and so trainings for assessment are given. Moreover, new curriculum was firstly used in middle school levels. Therefore, junior teachers’ assessment skills may be better than others. Table 6 Mean Comparisons of Teachers Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by Position Position Number Self-Perceived Assessment Skills Mean Std. Deviation Primary Teacher 63 101.98 13.13 Junior Teacher 91 104.71 9.85 Senior Teacher 74 103.73 11.29 Comparison of Teacher’s Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by Service Table 7 showed the comparison of teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by teachers’ services. In assessment skills, mean score of teachers who have above 30-years service is highest. Therefore, it can be said that teachers who have above 30-years service are more skillful in assessment than other teachers. Besides, the more experienced teachers have better assessment skills. This may be due to the fact that the experienced teachers have a lot of knowledge about classroom assessment, so they can also apply the appropriate assessment types in accordance with the students’ ability and the nature of subjects. Table 7 Mean Comparisons of Teachers’ Self-Perceived Assessment Skills by Service Service Number Self-Perceived Assessment Skills Mean Std. Deviation Below 10 Years 67 102.57 12.73 11-20 Years 53 102.79 12.70 21-30 Years 66 104.42 8.64 Above 30 Years 42 105.19 10.84 CONCLUSION The main aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills in Basic Education Schools from Pyawbwe Township. Firstly, it was found that the sample mean (103.64) is larger than the theoretical mean (67.5). Therefore, it can be said that the teachers from Pyawbwe Township possess good assessment skills. Among the subscales, 138 | JISAE. Volume 6 Number 2 September 2020. mean percentage of teachers’ performance assessment skills was the highest (98.38%). However, grading skills was the lowest (92.38%). To find out gender differences in teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills, independent samples t test was used. It was found that there were significant differences in teachers’ constructing, administering assessment skills, and performance assessment skills by gender are at 0.05 levels. Similarly, there were also significant differences in teachers’ grading skills and overall self-perceived assessment skills by gender are at 0.01 levels. Therefore, it can be concluded that female teachers have better self-perceived assessment skills than male teachers. Then, to compare the teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by school type, independent samples t test was used. It was found that there were significant differences in teachers’ performance assessment skills and grading skills by school type at 0.05 levels. Therefore, it can be concluded that public school teachers are more skillful in performance assessment and grading than private school teachers. This may be due to the inefficient test and measurement training of private school teachers. In the comparison of teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by position, mean score of junior teachers is the highest and primary teachers is the lowest. It may be due to the new curriculum of basic education in Myanmar. The new curriculum emphasizes to use many alternative assessments, so trainings for assessment are given. Moreover, the new curriculum was firstly used in middle school levels. Therefore, junior teachers’ assessment skills may be better than others. In the comparison of teachers’ self-perceived assessment skills by service, mean score of teachers who have above 30-years service is highest. Therefore, it can be said that teachers who have above 30-years service are more skillful in assessment than other teachers and the more experienced teachers have better assessment skills. This may be due to the fact that the experienced teachers have a lot of knowledge about classroom assessment, so they can apply the appropriate assessment types in accordance with students’ ability and the nature of subjects. Therefore, based on the literature and the research findings, the following suggestions would be given: (1) There are greater needs to interweave assessment training by school type (e.g., private schools), (2) Assessment trainings can compensate for the inexperience of students in the classroom, (3) Classroom assessment skills should be adapted to the needs of teachers working in different grade levels (e.g., mentoring), (4) Teachers need to use and practice their own assessment skills in their classroom which have been well trained and equipped in their respective teacher trainings, (5) The staff development program which is designed to facilitate changes in teachers’ assessment skills (e.g., lesson study), (6) Teachers should be helped and guided by seniors and school administrators to improve their assessment skills in accordance with the grade levels and content areas they are required to teach, (7) Records for teachers’ classroom assessments should be maintained, (8) Awareness about changes in grading system should be given, (9) Therefore, assessment is the feedback mechanism for improving classroom learning. 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