Attitude of Basic School Teachers toward Grading Practices: Developing a standardised Instrument

• Main Author: Jephtar Adu-Mensah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ishik University 2018-09-01
• Series: International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies
• Subjects: Grading Habit; Non-Academic Factors; Grading Practices
• Online Access: http://ijsses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Attitude-of-Basic-School-Teachers-toward-.pdf

One core responsibility of a class teacher is to assess student academic achievement and provide feedback to stakeholders in the form of grades. Grades have now become the academic currency used in determining proficiency or mastering on an educational concept of interest. Teachers are therefore expected to be proficient and reliable in their assessment practices. This study seeks to develop and validate a standardised instrument in measuring teachers’ attitude towards grading practices. The study further explores the attitude of teachers toward grading practices. The instrument development was done through a thorough review of the literature on teachers grading practices. Also, items constructed were carefully based on literature and observations made by the researcher. The developed instrument was administered to 443 teachers at the basic school level. Through an exploratory factor analysis, six dimensions were obtained which include: student’s efforts considered, student’s conduct considered, grading habit, perceived self-efficacy, approach to grading and difficulties encountered when grading. A confirmatory analysis was further conducted to explore the factor loadings of each item. After the analysis, 28-items were retained, the validated scale was administered to 278 teachers to assess their attitude toward grading practices. Further analysis revealed an overall negative attitude of Basic School teachers towards grading practices. It is recommended that in-service training on grading and reporting should be organized for teachers on regular basis. Also, teachers should be monitored by their head teachers or circuit supervisors to ensure that they adhere to recommended grading practices.