Content area
Abstract
Research has indicated that there are barriers and facilitators to teachers' acceptance and use of alternative assessment in the classroom as well as on a large scale (Aschbacher, 1994; Wolfe & Miller, 1997). Although these barriers have been identified in previous research, no systematic investigation has been done to examine the factors contributing to these barriers or facilitators. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which previously identified barriers to the use of alternative assessment in the classroom are related to the amount of alternative assessment training, teachers' perceived alternative assessment competence, teachers' reported prospective/actual use of alternative assessment, teachers' reported existence of facilitators in their alternative assessment training, and years of teaching experience. In addition, these relationships are examined for differences by grade level or content area. A multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between teachers' reported degree of inhibiting barriers and the previously mentioned factors using survey responses of 555 elementary, middle, and high school teachers. A significant relationship existed between the independent variables and the reported presence of alternative assessment barriers for all teachers (p = .00). How much teachers used alternative assessment and how present facilitators were in their alternative assessment training were the only contributing independent variables. Increased use and presence of facilitators in alternative assessment training related to lower degree of barrier impact. This result varied for different grade levels and content areas. A significant relationship existed between the five independent variables and the barrier score for 3rd–6th grade teachers, middle school (7th–9th grade) teachers, and Language Arts teachers. Either the teachers' use, perceived assessment competence, or the presence of facilitators in training contributed to the significant relationships. Overall, these results indicate: (1) teachers who frequently use alternative assessment are less likely to experience barriers in its use; and (2) the amount of alternative assessment training teachers receive may not be as important as are the characteristics of that training.
