Teachers Assessment Practices and Students Perceptions of the Classroom Assessment Environment

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers' assessment practices and students’ perceptions of the classroom assessment environment. A total of 1,636 students and 83 science teachers in the ninth grade participated in the study. Results from hierarchical linear modeling techniques showed that students’ perceptions of the assessment environment were shaped by student characteristics such as self-efficacy, class contextual features such as aggregate perceived assessment environment and self-efficacy levels of the class, and teacher’s teaching experience and assessment practices. These results point to a conclusion that each class has an assessment environment that originates from the teacher’s assessment practices, and that students develop their perceptions of the classroom assessment environment based in part on their group experiences. Therefore, researchers studying classroom environment may need to consider not only the individual student perception of the assessment environment, but also the aggregate perceptions of students in a class about their classroom assessment practices.