Student conceptions of assessment by level of schooling : further evidence for ecological rationality in belief systems

Student beliefs about assessment may vary according to the level of schooling. The Students Conceptions of Assessment version 6 (SCoA-VI) inventory elicits attitudes towards four beliefs (assessment: improves teaching and learning, measures external factors, has affective impact/benefit, is irrelevant). Using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, responses of primary (n=100) and high school students (n=134) revealed statistically significant mean score differences. The older students agreed less with improvement, affect/benefit, and external factors conceptions and more with the irrelevance conception. This study provides further evidence that student beliefs about assessment are consistent with how assessment is used in their school environments