Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2007

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph. D.

Department (Legacy)

Department of Teaching and Learning

Committee Chair

Bush, William S.

Author's Keywords

Eighth-grade; State tests; Ohio; Assessment; Mathematics

Subject

Mathematics--Study and teaching (Middle school)--Ohio; Educational tests and measurements--Ohio

Abstract

Classroom tests from nine eighth-grade mathematics teachers were collected from the 2003-04 and 2005-06 school years. These years represent one school year prior to the eighth-grade Ohio Achievement Test (OAT) in mathematics being implemented and the year after the eighth-grade OAT in mathematics was implemented, respectively. In addition, teachers were interviewed to gain insight into their classroom assessment practices. Classroom assessment data were compared between the two years, and interview data were examined, to investigate the impact that the new state test was having on classroom assessment practices. Teachers increased the percentage of their items that assessing content below the eighth-grade to nearly one-third of their items, and an average of 86% of teachers' classroom assessment items were at the lowest depth of knowledge level during both years. The assessment analysis and interview analysis indicate that teachers' reliance on curriculum materials for their tests, along with teachers' inability to accurately interpret the eighth-grade indicators, are partly responsible for these two findings. The presence of a state test did not entice teachers to assess more eighth-grade mathematics content or higher depths of knowledge.

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