What teachers assess and its consequences

This study aimed to investigate teachers’ perceptions and practices related to student outcomes and the criteria of student assessments in secondary school biology classes. Teacher interviews and documents provided the data for this study. According to the results of this study, teachers mainly assessed cognitive achievement by evaluating students' knowledge of basic facts, involving recall and recognition. Teachers also assessed non-cognitive characteristics to assign end-of-term grades. In addition, there were discrepancies between what teachers claimed to assess and what they actually assessed. Furthermore, teachers' expectations of students changed with the perceived level of student ability. Consequences of these findings on student learning are discussed throughout the paper, and suggestions for teacher education and practice are also provided.