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Reviewing research on parent attitudes towards school assessment:
Implications for classroom assessment practices
By Lois Ruth Harris, Central Queensland University
Paper presented to the Classroom Assessment SIG at the American Educational Research
Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 16-20, 2015. For more information,
contact the first author at l.harris@cqu.edu.au.
Abstract
This paper systematically reviews literature exploring parent understandings of and attitudes
towards school assessment practices. It examines the extent to which data agree that parents
support standardized testing and the use of more traditional assessment and reporting
practices. As these assumptions are often used to justify a public assessment policies (e.g.,
use of high-stakes testing), some which undermine Assessment for Learning principles and
practices, what parents believe must be more thoroughly investigated to help identify the best
course of action to get parents and community stakeholders to support assessment practices
most beneficial for learning. The review found parents generally supported teacher
judgements and new assessment practices once they were educated about them; implications
for research and practice are discussed.
Introduction
While there is a substantial body of research examining teacher and student beliefs about and
attitudes towards assessment (e.g., Abrams, Pedulla, & Madaus, 2003; Brown, 2004, 2008;
Dutro & Selland, 2012; Hargreaves, 2005; Harris & Brown, 2009, Harris, Harnett, & Brown,
2009; Hirschfeld & Brown, 2009; Klinger & Rogers, 2011; Peterson & Irving, 2008;
Remesal, 2011), parent viewpoints are seldom explored in empirical studies. This is
problematic because parent opinions (and perceptions of their opinions) are likely to
influence assessment policy and decision-making at all levels. Elected politicians create
state/province and national assessment policies which they believe will appeal to those in
their electorates and voting parents far outnumber teachers. School and district leaders will
interpret and implement these policies in ways that they believe their school communities
will support. Even at a classroom level, teachers may undermine or superficially implement
particular parts of assessment policies which they believe may be unpopular with or
misunderstood by parents (e.g., some teachers report being hesitant to use peer- and self-
assessment because of concerns about parent reactions to students evaluating themselves,
Harris & Brown, 2013; Ross, 2006). At present, most information about parent and public
opinions of school assessment is from large scale public opinion surveys (e.g., Gallup poll,
Newspoll); studies where other educational stakeholders like teachers or school
administrators share their perceptions about what parents want and need from assessment
(e.g., Canvass Strategic Opinion Research, 2013); or discussions taking place in the news or
social media.
This paper systematically reviews empirical studies exploring parent attitudes towards
K-12 assessment practices. It focuses particularly on the extent to which these data
substantiate two commonly articulated assumptions:
Parents support the use of standardized testing (e.g., Brookhart, 2013; Phelps, 1998)
Parents prefer traditional forms of assessment and reporting (e.g., Culbertson &
Jalongo, 1999).
As these assumptions are often used to justify public, school-level, and classroom-level
assessment practices and policies (Shepard & Bliem, 1995), it is important to understand if
these are well supported by data. This paper identifies what empirical evidence actually
suggests about parent attitudes towards assessment and discusses the implications of these for
both research and classroom assessment practice.
Unpacking common assumptions about assessment and why they matter
Stakeholder beliefs about the purpose of assessment strongly shape their endorsement of
particular practices and the way they may participate in or implement these (Brown, 2008).
Brown (2008) identifies three common purposes for assessment, along with one anti-purpose:
Assessment improves teaching and learning (Improvement).
Assessment makes students accountable for learning (Student accountability)
Assessment demonstrates the quality of schools and teachers (School accountability)
Assessment should be rejected because it is invalid, irrelevant, and negative
(Irrelevance)
One of the common tensions within the literature is between improvement and
accountability purposes (Harris & Brown, 2009). Those who adopt an Assessment for
Learning approach (e.g., Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2003), which privileges
improvement purposes for assessment and an emphasis on the use of formative assessment,
often articulate concerns about assessment policies which are accountability focused,
particularly those which use a limited range of data to judge school quality (Klenowski,
2011) or tie school funding and/or sanctions to assessment results (Mintrop & Sunderman,
2009). Concerns are diverse and include worries that such assessments may lead to:
the narrowing and/or fracturing of curriculum (Au, 2007)
anxiety for staff and students (Mulvenon, Stegman, & Ritter, 2005)
cheating by teachers and students (Nicols & Berliner, 2007)
breakdowns in fairness and/or validity (Nicols & Berliner, 2007; Smith & Fey, 2000)
negative impacts on student self-esteem and motivation to learn (Assessment Reform
Group, 2002; Dutro & Selland, 2012).
As Shepard (2000, p. 9) notes:
If we wish to pursue seriously the use of assessment for learning, …. it is important to
recognize the pervasive negative effects of accountability tests and the extent to which
externally imposed testing programs prevent and drive out thoughtful classroom
practices.
While these negative effects are not universal [e.g., Au (2007) found high stakes testing
positively affected curriculum in 25% of the studies reviewed], they have led to considerable
debate about the merits of accountability focused assessment practices and frequent calls for
assessment reform (e.g., Nicols & Berliner, 2007).
However, one of the major challenges with the implementation of assessment reform
is convincing stakeholders that the proposed changes will be educationally beneficial.
Returning to the two assumptions mentioned in the introduction of the paper, the assumption
that parents support standardised testing (Brookhart, 2013) can create difficulty for those
attempting to implement systems based predominantly on formative assessment. Several key
arguments are put forwards in relation as to why parents support standardized testing.
Brookhart (2013) identified two themes drawing on United States Gallup poll survey data:
beliefs in: 1) the objectivity of testing and 2) in using test data comparatively and
competitively. As Brookhart (2013, p. 67) notes:
First, it [high stakes testing] allows for treating test scores in a mechanically objective
way, which absolves politicians, policy makers, and the general public from any guilt
or shame or charges of bias in decision making. Second, it serves as a yardstick in a
competition that will tell who has won the race. This view fits well with the current
public understanding of education as a race for economic competitiveness.
Assumptions about the prevalence of these two beliefs clearly underpin policy decisions
surrounding the use of standardized testing within the United States, but also likely influence
other international contexts as well (e.g., recent implementation of national testing and
leagues tables within Australia, Klenowski & Wyatt-Smith, 2012).
There are also multiple reasons given to support the assumption that parental
preference for traditional assessment (e.g., tests, formal assignments) and reporting measures
(i.e., grades and scores). The two themes Brookhart (2013) identified also ring true at the
classroom level; concrete scores or letter grades may help non-expert parents make
comparisons which they believe help them better understand where their child sits in relation
to expectations and other children. Also, parents may be more comfortable with modes of
assessment and reporting that they experienced at school as they bring at least some level of
understanding to these practices from their own prior experiences. Hence, it is particularly
important to consider environmental and contextual factors when evaluating parent
perspectives on assessment.
Theoretically framing parent perspectives towards assessment
When examining evidence about parent attitudes towards assessment, it is important to
consider how their perspectives might be ecologically rational (Rieskamp & Reimer, 2007).
This theory suggests that to understand human thinking and behaviour, it is important to
consider both their cognition and their environment as it is “…presumed that people‟s
reasoning is the result of an adaptation of the individual to his or her environment”
(Rieskamp & Reimer, 2007, p. 273). Hence:
Human reasoning and behavior are ecologically rational when they are adapted to the
environment in which humans act. This definition is in stark contrast to classical
definitions of rationality, according to which reasoning and behavior are rational
when they conform to norms of logic, statistics, and probability theory. (Rieskamp &
Reimer, 2007, p. 273)
The strength of this theory is that it helps potentially explain perspectives which may, at first,
seem contradictory (e.g., parents who identify that assessments causes considerable stress for
their child, but still strongly support the use of such assessment). Hence, it may be fruitful to
consider how particular responses may be viewed as rational when environmental factors are
taken into consideration, rather than judge parent reactions to assessment types as logical or
illogical using traditional criteria. These environmental factors could include diverse aspects
such as parents‟ own past experiences (and what they perceive was right or wrong about
them); their perceptions of what others think based on observation, conversation, and/or the
media; or aspects of the assessment policy context.
This theory also suggests that human reasoning is limited by the availability of
resources (e.g., time, memory, computational power), with people often basing decisions on
the heuristics which require the least amount of resources, while still „solving‟ the problem.
Hence, when people are presented with a solution (e.g., standardised testing may be
perceived as fixing the problem of knowing how a student is doing), they are less likely to
look for or consider alternatives. Keeping in mind that a) people think in ways which are
ecologically rational and b) they are likely to gravitate towards simple solutions or heuristics,
may help explain why parents react in particular ways to varying assessment policies and
types.
Methodology
This review employed multiple search strategies. First, all major educational databases (e.g.,
A+ Academic, Ebscohost, ERIC, Scopus, PsycInfo, Science Direct, Taylor & Francis online)
and Google Scholar were searched using multiple combinations of key words including
„parents‟ „assessment‟ and „school‟; „parent conceptions of assessment‟ and „school‟, „parent
attitudes to assessment‟ and „school‟; and „parent attitudes to testing‟ and „school‟. Results
from each search were hand checked and additional potential sources were found by
identifying relevant sources cited within these and looking at articles citing relevant studies.
In all, 45 potentially relevant sources were identified.
Once potential sources had been gathered, their abstracts were read and the content of
the articles was scanned to make sure they met the criteria for inclusion in the review:
Contained original empirical data about parent attitudes towards K-12
assessment practices
Were formal publications of academic work (e.g., journal articles, theses,
official research reports)
Were published in the last 20 years (i.e., since 1995)
Were readily available and published in English.
Studies were excluded when they:
Related only to a particular issue associated with assessment [e.g.,
Mulvenon, Stegman, and Ritter‟s (2005) study on test anxiety]
Focused on comparing teacher, student, and/or parent assessment ratings
(e.g., Cole, 1997)
Centred on data about parent experiences of assessing their own children
(e.g., Birbili & Tzioga, 2014)
Provided insufficient detail about the data collection and/or methods of
analysis to ascertain how research was conducted (e.g., Atkinson, 2003;
Wyn, Turnbull, & Grimshaw, 2014).
Shared parent data that was gathered through informal conversation (e.g.,
Kasanen & Raty, 2002), reported by third parties like teachers or school
administrators (e.g., Canvass Strategic Opinion Research, 2013), or came
from an extremely small sample [e.g., Scott‟s (2007) sample of 2 parents]
Focused on assessment reporting rather than assessment practices (e.g.,
Power & Clarke‟s 2000 study of parent reactions to the ways schools
informed them of student progress).
In all, 12 studies were found which met all criteria; details of these studies are provided in
Table 1. While some studies did include samples from other population groups (e.g., parents
and/or administrators, e.g., Barksdale-Ladd & Thomas, 2000; Northwest Evaluation
Association, & Grunwald Associates LLC, 2014), Table 1 only focuses on parent data from
these studies. How these interacted with other data collected will be discussed in the results
and conclusions sections.
[Insert Table 1 about here]
Results
Data did generally support the first assumption, that parents do support the use of
standardized testing (e.g., Mu & Childs, 2005; Osbourne, Stegman, Suitt, & Ritter, 2004;
Whitlam Institute, 2013). These same quantitative studies also question if test anxiety is a
major parental concern.
However, qualitative data presents a more complex and slightly more negative view
of standardized testing (Barksdale-Ladd & Thomas, 2003; Freeman, Mathison, & Wilcox,
2006). Freeman, Mathison, and Wilcox (2006) hypothesize that perhaps parental support for
these assessments may exist because they are so firmly embedded within educational
discourse that it is difficult for parents to discuss educational success and failure without
them, strengthening the existing hegemony in relation to accountability assessment. That
these data are significantly more positive towards testing than similar data from teachers
(e.g., Barksdale-Ladd & Thomas, 2003; Wyn et al., 2014) suggests that parents have different
experiences of or expectations for these tests or that they may be unaware of some of the
negative consequences that teachers observe. That most parents continue to support these
tests, despite seeing evidence of anxiety in their children (e.g., Whitlam Report, 2013), may
be evidence of ecological rationality. While it may not be logical for parents to support
practices which they know may have negative consequences for their children (e.g., Freeman,
et al. 2006), if they do not see viable alternatives, it becomes rational to support such tests
give their own data needs. The Northwest Evaluation Association (2012) found that parents
were far more supportive of comparative uses of data (e.g., comparing students within
schools, between districts) than teachers; once again, this may be ecologically rational given
parents may perceive that such comparisons help them understand how their child is „really
doing‟, answering the question of if the child is performing better or worse than others around
them.
When examining the second assumption, that parents support traditional forms of
assessment and reporting, the news for proponents of assessment innovation is more positive.
In the United States, lower-primary school parents were supportive of school reporting via
the narrative Work Sampling System instead of the traditional grades based reporting once
they had the system well explained to them (Meisels, Xue, Bickel, Nicholson, & Atkins-
Burnett, 2001). Shepard and Bliem (1995) found parents actually preferred the new
performance assessments to standardized testing once they were educated about them; the
authors attributed this finding to the way the district had chosen to implement performance
alongside standardized testing, educate parents about how it worked, and take their concerns
into consideration. Thoroughly explaining new assessment systems to parents appears
especially important; Cheng, Andrews, and Yu‟s (2011) study about the implementation of
school-based assessment in Hong Kong found that the more parents felt they were informed
and had opportunities to learn about school-based assessment, the more they supported their
students in this. However, there are warnings about the impact culture and assessment
washback issues can have on parents‟ opinions of new systems. For example, Ratnam-Lin
and Tan (2015) found that while Singaporean parents generally supported the move away
from extensive testing in the first couple of years of schooling, they were concerned that,
without this practice in the early years, their children might not be prepared to take the major
biennial exams starting in Year 3. For parents within societies like China and Singapore
where testing has played such a major role in evaluation for centuries, it may be much harder
for parents to imagine a valid and appropriate assessment regime without it.
While parents were overwhelmingly supportive of teachers and their professional
judgement, indicating a high level of trust for teacher professionalism in this area, they
reported feeling uninformed about school assessment practices or showed little understanding
of the assessment systems being utilized (e.g., Holyk, 2011; Martinez, Martinez, & Perez,
2004). It is possible that the parental support for more „traditional‟ forms of assessment like
standardized testing may not be due to actual endorsement of these systems, but because they
are unaware of alternatives (Freeman et al., 2006). Hence, it is important for those wanting to
implement new, more classroom-based assessment practices, to make sure that time is spent
not only educating school leaders, teachers, and students about how such practices will
benefit student learning, but parents as well.
Discussion and Conclusions
While data do confirm parental support for traditional modes of assessment like standardized
testing, they raise questions about why parents support such assessment techniques,
identifying that this support may be because of their relative familiarity with such systems
rather than because they believe they are the most effective ways to assess learning. Studies
suggest parents are also willing to support the use of alternative forms of assessment and
reporting (e.g., Shepard & Bliem, 1995); hence the challenge is for educators to provide
parents with forms of assessment and reporting which better support student learning while
simultaneously meeting parent data needs. More research is needed to determine what parents
want from assessment data so that this stakeholder group‟s requirements can be kept in mind.
Additionally, the mismatch between teacher and parent support of testing regimes
poses a challenge. It remains unclear if parents generally support such testing because they a)
are unaware of the aspects which teachers find concerning, b) disagree with these teacher
concerns, or c) believe the benefits outweigh risks or negative effects. As non-experts in
assessment, parents are unlikely to understand issues which may jeopardise the accuracy of
such test scores (e.g., measurement error, artificial score inflation occurring when students
are drilled in the content on the test). Studies are needed to better understand why parents
support testing or other particular assessment practices. This information would allow
educators to come up with more effective ways to articulate the issues surrounding each type
of assessment to parents. While the child‟s classroom teacher may be best placed to provide
parents with information about the strengths and limitations of particular assessment
practices, many education graduates have had limited opportunities to learn how to
appropriately analyse and use assessment data (Greenburg & Walsh, 2012), making it
unlikely they‟ll be able to explain important measurement concepts to parents in ways which
will allow them to understand how particular types of data should be interpreted.
Further, educators have to accept that, at present, rich descriptive narrative comments
(which are privileged within Assessment for Learning) may not fully satisfy parent data
needs. Parents, especially from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds, may not understand
the specific strengths and weaknesses in a child‟s work identified within such narrative
comments. Also, such narrative feedback may not situate the student‟s learning on a clear
continuum, giving the parents the comfort that their child is performing at an acceptable
level. In their study of school report card comments entitled “Praising with Faint Damns,”
Hattie and Peddie (2003) found that 78% of the teacher commentary was very general; often
criticism or concerns about the child‟s achievement were subtle and could easily be missed.
Likewise, they noted that the report cards examined in their study seldom referred to
standards:
Where there were achievement standards, they tended to be classroom based, and this
led to a much more positive report than would have been the case if national standards
had been used. (Hattie & Peddie, 2003, p. 4)
Given that teacher-parent interactions around achievement may overemphasise positives, it is
highly rational that parents want access to data which positions their student‟s achievements
for them more clearly. Current report cards and teacher verbal and written comments may
not provide the data parents need because they may be a) vague, b) focused on
effort/behaviour, or c) not accurately portraying the student‟s true level of achievement by
focusing on what they can rather than cannot do.
Despite the literature reviewed in this article, there remain considerable gaps in our
knowledge about parent attitudes towards assessment. First, the studies reviewed in this paper
mainly sampled primary school parents; it is possible that secondary parents may have
different attitudes given that assessment stakes rise as students move towards the end of
compulsory schooling and are approaching the transition into higher education, training, or
the workforce (Shepard & Bliem, 1995). Also, it is difficult to judge how generalizable
parent attitudes may be from one context to another given the differences each has in relation
to its history of assessment use, current assessment policies and practices, and the stakes
attached to various types of assessment data. Determining the potential generalizability of
results is also hampered by the fact that the reviewed studies seldom provided details about
how parents were recruited and selected for the studies; if most participants are self-selected
volunteers, these studies are unlikely to provide a representative sample of viewpoints.
There are also potential issues relating to quality with some publications. Two of the
studies included were reports which have not been formally peer reviewed (Northwest
Evaluation Association, & Grunwald Associates LLC., 2014; Whitlam Institute, 2013). While
the descriptions of the studies and their methodologies included within the reports made it
seem appropriate to include them in this review given the limited empirical research available
on the topic, this research‟s credibility and visibility would be strengthened through formal
peer-reviewed publication. Additionally, three studies provided only descriptive statistics
(Northwest Evaluation Association, & Grunwald Associates LLC., 2014; Shepard & Bliem,
1995; Whitlam Institute, 2013); ideally, more complex statistical modelling would be useful
to help tease out the relationships within the data.
This review reminds us of the importance of educating parents (and the general
public) about school assessment practices and encouraging them to support innovations in
this area that will benefit student learning. The power that parents and the community can
wield as a lever for assessment reform has been recently demonstrated; in 2013, Seattle
Public Schools teachers led a successful grassroots campaign which caused the district to
discontinue the use of a particularly contentious standardized test (see Zeichner, 2013 for
more details). As the reviewed studies do suggest that parents support teacher assessment
judgements, it is important that advocates of classroom assessment, especially those working
within assessment accountability systems currently undermining Assessment for Learning
practices, take advantage of the leverage that parent and community support can provide.
Wider engagement by teachers and researchers within mainstream news and social media
platforms may help disseminate important information about assessment systems to parents,
allowing them to be more active and informed.
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Authors
Country
Study description
N
Data collection
Analytical
method
Findings
Mu & Childs
(2005)
Canada
(Ontario)
Examined how
parents‟ beliefs
about large-scale
assessments related
to how they
obtained
information about
these assessments
N=104
Grade 3, 4,
and 5
parents
Questionnaire
Descriptive
statistics, chi
squared
analyses,
correlations
More than 70% of parents believed the large-scale test results provided
accurate evaluations of individual students, schools, and school boards.
Most agreed that such testing improved student learning and
accountability and that the comparing of data should be encouraged. The
more sources of information they reported accessing about the tests, the
more positive their evaluations were of such assessment. These parents
didn‟t seem overly concerned about stress or other potential negative
side effects.
Barksdale-
Ladd &
Thomas
(2000)
USA (2
large
states)
Explored parent
knowledge of state
standards, policies,
and tests alongside
their experiences of
these tests and test
preparation (in
schools and at
home).
N=20
parent
Individual semi-
structured
interview
Phenomeno-
logical analysis
Parents reported little knowledge of standards, but said schools kept
them informed about the tests. Most parents did not see benefits from
such tests and many reported observing student anxiety as a result of
these assessments. There were diverse parent actions reported in
response to the testing ranging from those who completed intense
coaching at home with worksheets to those who chose to keep them
home from the test.
Osbourne,
Stegman,
Suitt, &
Ritter (2004)
USA
(Arkansas)
Analyzed parent
beliefs about
standardized tests
alongside the
correlations
between these and
student test
performance
N=190
Grade 5
students
and parents
Self-report
survey and
student Stanford
Achievement
Tests scores
Percentages;
ANOVA
analyses
The majority of parents (55%) responded that standardized testing is
important to their children‟s educational progress, with 88% reporting
interest in their children‟s scores. 76% reported that such testing was not
overly stressful for students, but they did acknowledge that teachers were
under pressure. Parents who reported pressure to help improve their
child‟s score had children who were lower performing, suggesting these
data may help parents identify that their children are having difficulty.
Freeman,
Mathison, &
Wilcox
(2006)
USA (New
York)
Investigated parent
discourses relating
to state and
national
accountability
testing, identifying
ways these support
and resist existing
practices
N= 47
parents
Focus-group
interviews
Constant-
comparative
analysis; data
used to create a
performance
dialogue of four
dialogic acts
This study identifies both support and resistance to dominant discourses
surrounding accountability testing. Their study noted parents had
complex viewpoints about what standardized tests could and couldn‟t tell
about a child‟s achievement. Parents were aware that such tests did not
always provide accurate data about student learning, might affect what
teachers did in the classroom, and may not serve children with diverse
learning styles. However, they still reported using them to make
judgements about children as they did want to know how their child was
doing. More examples of resistance to testing appeared within the district
where test scores were telling parents that their schools and children
were failing.
Whitlam
Institute
(2013)
Australia
Examined parent
attitudes towards
Australia‟s national
literacy and
numeracy testing
N=568
Grades 3-9
parent
Telephone
administered
survey questions
as part of a
wider omnibus
Percentages
While 56% of parents reported being in favour of NAPLAN testing
(fathers more so than mothers), 34% were against it. 70% found the data
useful, with 40% reporting that it caused their child stress. Only 17%
said they compared schools‟ test scores on the Myschool website.
Shepard &
Bliem
(1995)
USA
(Colorado)
Examined how
parents evaluate
the utility of an
assessment and
explored their
attitudes towards
both standardised
and performance
based assessments
N= 33 Year
3 parents
(interview);
N=105
Grade 3
parents
(question-
naire)
Individual semi-
structured
interviews and
questionnaire
Interview data:
coded to
categories, with
some code
frequencies
provided.
Questionnaire
data:
percentages
calculated.
77% described informal sources of information (e.g., seeing graded
work samples, talking to the child‟s teacher) as most useful for judging
their child‟s progress and the quality of the education they were
receiving, viewing this as giving them the most specific information
about their child‟s strengths and weaknesses and what they could do to
help. Parents reported trusting teachers and their professional judgments.
While approving of both, parents had higher approval ratings for
performance assessments than standardized tests, seeing them as
encouraging students to think and providing useful diagnostic
information.
Northwest
Evaluation
Association,
& Grunwald
USA
(national)
Investigated
parents‟ assessment
preferences and
needs
N=1009
parents of
K-12
students
Online survey
Percentages
calculated for
individual
questions
Parents in the study wanted assessments which provided information
about their child and could be used to personalise learning, with 95%
endorsing monitoring child‟s general progress in education and knowing
when to be concerned about my child‟s progress as the most important
Associates
LLC (2014)
functions of assessment as extremely or very important. They also
agreed that a wide range of subject areas and skills (e.g., critical
thinking, problem solving) should be assessed, even though many US
assessment programs focus far more heavily on English and
mathematics. While 84% of parents rated formative assessment as
extremely or very useful, on 44% gave summative assessments the same
rating. Many parents value the ability to compare their students to others
locally (40%) and in other districts (32%) and want more information on
how to interpret and use assessment results. They also want timely
reporting, with 79% saying assessment information becomes of minimal
use after one month.
Cheng,
Andrews, &
Yu (2011)
Hong
Kong
Examined parents‟
perspectives of the
school based
assessment
practices recently
implemented in
Hong Kong.
N=315
secondary
school
parents
Questionnaire
Exploratory
factor analysis,
independent and
pair sample t-
test and multiple
regression
analyses
This study found that parents‟ knowledge and opportunities to learn
about School Based Assessment along with their perceptions of SBA
were associated with the amount of support they reported providing their
children on school based assessments. It also found that parent
perceptions of SBA were directly and significantly related to their
children‟s perceptions.
Ratnam-Lin
Singapore
Examined parents‟
N=13
Open ended
Qualitative
While most parents agreed that the practice of substituting smaller, lower
& Tan
(2015)
perceptions of
„Holistic
Assessment‟
practices trialled in
some Singapore
primary schools
secondary
school
teachers
who were
parents of
Primary 1
or 2
children
questionnaire
analysis, coding
data to the
themes
perceptions,
practices, and
tensions
stakes assessments for the major midterm and end of year exams in the
first two years of primary school was positive as it might allow students
to transition better and cause these young students less stress, they
perceived that the serious backwash effects from the high stakes testing
culture of other grades caused problems with the practical
implementation of this policy. There were concerns about if teachers
were equipped to provide the formative, qualitative feedback this
assessment style requires given their previous focus on exam preparation
and doubts about if students and parents really understood this feedback.
Some of the parents also thought it would be easier for students to
prepare for two major tests rather than lots of diverse „bite sized‟
assessments; parents were also concerned about if their students would
be adequately prepared for the major tests they would encounter in all
other years of primary school.
Meisels,
Xue, Bickel,
Nicholson,
& Atkins-
Burnett
USA
(Pennsylva
nia)
Examined parent
responses to a
performance
assessment system,
looking at specific
N= 246 K-
3 parents
Survey
questionnaires
and children‟s
school
achievement
Descriptive
statistics,
correlations,
hierarchical
regressions,
The majority of parents preferred the Work Sampling System (WSS) to
traditional report cards. Parents‟ perceptions of teachers‟ willingness to
use the WSS and staff availability to answer parents‟ questions about the
WSS strongly affected parents‟ attitudes toward the WSS regardless of
the relative achievement levels of their children. Parent-teacher
(2001)
factors affecting
their attitudes
data
structural
equation
modelling
communication was a strong predictor of parent attitude towards the
WSS system.
Holyk
(2011)
Canada
(British
Columbia)
Examined
indigenous
Canadian parents‟
understandings of
school assessment
N= 18
Grade 4
parents
Semi-structured
individual
interviews
Theme analysis
While parents supported use of province-wide testing (which they saw
as providing evidence that their children received an education similar to
those in more urban areas), they wanted assessment to provide
information which would help children achieve outcome rather than just
identify those who were not doing well. Although they described having
minimal knowledge about classroom and province-wide assessment
practices, they reported generally agreeing with teachers‟ judgements
about their children. They also articulated that assessment practices
should be used in ways which did not damage student self-esteem.
Martinez,
Martinez, &
Perez (2004)
Spain
Analyzed parents‟
perceptions of
children‟s
assessment in
primary school
N=188
Grade 3
parents
Questionnaire
with both fixed
and free
response items
Fixed response
items:
frequencies,
percentages, and
chi squared
measures. Free
response items:
Parents articulated that assessment‟s main purpose was for checking
student progress. They said they were relatively uninformed about
assessment policy although they considered it important; those with
higher levels of education reported higher knowledge. Parents identified
schools most frequently assess student knowledge; they wanted more
emphasis on student effort and student interest in learning and less on
student behaviour and participation. 90% of parents reported always or
qualitative
content analysis
frequently agreed with their student‟s assessment results, with 64%
satisfied or very satisfied with the current assessment system.
