Abstract

The study aimed to explore school teachers’ self-reported conceptions and practices of classroom assessment. The data was collected through survey from 512 high school teachers working in four districts of Punjab. Conceptions of Assessment (COA)III Abridged survey (2002)developed by Brown and Assessment Practices Inventory developed by Mcmillan, Myran and Workman (2002) and modified by Brown (2009) were used to identify teachers’ conceptions and practices regarding classroom assessment. Data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Results found that teachers’ showed strong agreement towards improvement; school accountability and students’ accountability conception of assessment whereas found disagreed to the conception that “assessment is irrelevant”. Mutual correlation was observed among conceptions of assessment. Formal assessment types measuring surface level cognitive processing was the mostly used assessment formats among teachers, whereas informal assessments requiring deep cognitive processing of the information were found less in use. Conceptions and practices of assessment were not found strongly related. The study made a contribution to the understandings of school teachers regarding purposes and uses of assessment in the context of Pakistan having implication for the development of prospective teachers’ conceptions and preferences for assessment practices.

Key words: Conceptions of Assessment; Assessment Practices Inventory; Secondary Education