Students’ Understanding of Assessment for Institutional Accountability and Improvement: Relation with Test-Taking Effort and Remote Test Administration

Sara J. Finney, Dena A. Pastor, & Shanti Silver   |    Volume 18 Issue 1  |   

We examined if students’ understanding about the purpose and use of institutional assessment scores was affected by moving to remote testing due to COVID-19. Moreover, we examined if students’ knowledge about the purpose of outcomes assessment related to their effort on these tests. If knowledge about accountability testing and effort were positively related, we could design interventions to increase knowledge and, in turn, increase effort. We gathered data on knowledge about institutional accountability testing and test-taking effort from students differing in year in school and whether tests were completed remotely or in person. Knowledge about assessment testing was high with negligible differences in knowledge across year in school and testing context. Knowledge related positively to test-taking effort. Testing context and year in school did not moderate this relation. In sum, students who better understood that outcomes assessment was used for accountability and improvement efforts expended more effort on these assessments.

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