A study on the investigation for variables affecting teacher's competency for student assessment

The purpose of this study is to investigate the variables that affect teacher's competency for student assessment and to find out the strategies to improve the competency. The survey was conducted online on 454 teachers from elementary schools, 191 from middle schools, and 227 from high schools to evaluate the teachers’ competency for student assessment, The scale of teacher's competency for student assessment is composed of the following: “planning assessments and developing tools”, “assessment adminstration”, “feedback”, “ethics and compliance with legal procedures”. In order to investigate the variables affecting the teacher's competency of student assesment, the general linear model analysis was employed using teachers’ sub-competencies of student assessment as dependent variables; teachers’ school levels, gender, years of teaching, whether or not to take a subject related to student assessment and the types of training/workshops participated in as independent variables. The results of analyzing the general linear mode have shown that school level, gender, years of teaching, some training/workshop related to students assessment participation were statistically significant, whereas taking courses related to student assessment at the university and training/workshops for student assessment did not affect the teacher's competency for student assessment. Nonetheless, it was found that the average competency of the teachers who took courses related to student assessment was higher than that of those who did not take such courses. The comparison of the teachers’ competence according to their participation in training/workshops has indicated that taking the courses related to curriculum, teaching and learning, and subject competency partly affected the teachers’ sub-competency of student assessment while no such difference was observed in taking the student assessment training/workshops. Based on the results, in order to improve the competency, we need to understand the teacher competency for student assessment by school levels that teachers attend. Also the standards of the teachers competency for student should be developed with consideration for school levels. Since the student assessment courses at the university offer the basic skill and knowledge for pre-service teachers, universities should develop and provide high quality programs for student assessment. Training/workshops related to student assessment should be reconstruct to enhance the teacher's competency for student assessment Lastly, it is necessary to develop specific and detailed training/workshops focused on sub competencies rather than overall competencies for student assessment.