Date of Award

1987

Type

Thesis

Major

Specialist in Education

Degree Type

Specialist Degree in Education

Department

Teacher Education

First Advisor

Dr. Polly K. Adams

Second Advisor

Dr. Carolyn M. Cartledge

Third Advisor

Dr. Stephen P. Halverson

Abstract

Standardized testing in the public schools has an increasing impact on students, teachers, and administrators, yielding evaluative data which promise to become even more crucial to decision-making processes for all concerned. Also increasing are the negative attitudes of educators toward the testing program, in contrast to the growing emphasis placed on its importance by the public. Previous research indicates that teacher attitudes affect student outcomes; therefore, this study was developed to address the possibility of a correlation between teacher attitudes toward standardized testing and student test scores.

Ninety first-grade teachers in a selected county in Georgia served as subjects for the survey of attitudes toward standardized testing. Total scores and subscale scores were generated.

The ninety first-grade classrooms of the teachers surveyed were also used as subjects, supplying Normal Curve Equivalents for the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, which measured the variable of student test scores. Mean scores in reading and math were correlated with each of the attitude scores. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to compute the correlation coefficients, none of which supported the hypothesis that a positive correlation exists between teacher attitudes toward standardized testing and student test scores. The survey did, however, reveal strongly negative attitudes of teachers toward standardized testing, signifying a need for further attention to this potential deterrent to maximum test performance.

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