Criterion-Referenced Assessment Literacy of Educators

This study investigated the assessment literacy of educators in regard to criterion-referenced tests. For the purpose of this study, administrators included principals and assistant principals within a school. First, the study determined the degree of training in measurement, assessment, and statistics that educators have received. Second, the study investigated the assessment knowledge of educators based on their performance on the Criterion-Referenced Questionnaire. Third, the study investigated if years experience, type of certification, or highest degree held had a significant difference on their performance on the Criterion-Referenced Questionnaire. Fourth, the study investigated educators’ attitudes toward the use of measurement, assessment, and statistics in education. In addition, this study sought to investigate assessment literacy of educators and help to identify areas that educators need for professional development to become more competent in the use of assessment. Educators could use the instruments from this study to help identify their own needs for professional development. This research could also help to determine future needs in assessment training for teachers and administrators in college and other certification programs. Three separate one way ANOVAs were used for hypotheses testing in this research project. The ANOVA for years experience was not significant, F (4,375) =2.41, p=.049. Eta Square was .025. The Bonferroni Correction to control for Type 1 error was .016; thus, there was no significant difference between the groups. The ANOVA for certification was not significant, F (1, 378) =3.649, p=.057. Eta Square was .009. The ANOVA for highest degree held was significant, F (2, 377) =11.275, p\u3c.001. Eta square was .056. A significant ANOVA was followed up by a post hoc test using a Bonferroni Correction to control for Type 1 error p\u3c.001