Teachers' conceptions are powerful in shaping the quality of their instructional practice. The purpose of this thesis is to defend a four-facet model of teachers' conceptions of assessment, which revolves around emphasising improvement or school accountability, or student accountability purposes or treating assessment as irrelevant. Further, it explores how those conceptions relate to teachers' conceptions of learning, teaching, curriculum, and teacher efficacy. A literature review is used to identify the major conceptions. Multiple studies led to a 50-item Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment (COA-III) questionnaire based on the four main conceptions of assessment. Structural equation modelling showed a close fit of a hierarchical, multi-dimensional model to the data. Teachers moderately agreed with the improvement conceptions and the system accountability conception. Teachers disagreed that assessment was irrelevant. However, teachers had little agreement that assessment was for student accountability. Improvement, school, and student accountability conceptions were positively correlated. The irrelevance conception was inversely related to the improvement conception and not related to the system accountability conception. A four-factor structure of teachers' beliefs about assessment, curriculum, teaching, learning, and teacher efficacy, was found. Teachers agreed that assessment influences and improves their teaching and student learning. They agreed less strongly that assessment, measuring surface learning only, makes schools, teachers, and students accountable and that teachers are able to conduct assessment through a systematic technological approach. They agreed at a similar level with student centred learning that involves deep approaches to learning, divorced from assessment. They disagreed with a telling type of teaching that focuses only on intellectual development of students or on reconstruction or reform of society. Use of the CoA-III makes teachers' conceptions of assessment more explicit and will assist in the development of teacher training programs, the design of assessment policy, and enhance further research into educational assessment practices. Furthermore, explicit attention to teachers' conceptions of assessment is expected to be a precursor to teachers' self-regulation of their assessment beliefs and practices.

Teachers' conceptions are powerful in shaping the quality of their instructional practice. The purpose of this thesis is to defend a four-facet model of teachers' conceptions of assessment, which revolves around emphasising improvement or school accountability, or student accountability purposes or treating assessment as irrelevant. Further, it explores how those conceptions relate to teachers' conceptions of learning, teaching, curriculum, and teacher efficacy. A literature review is used to identify the major conceptions. Multiple studies led to a 50-item Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment (COA-III) questionnaire based on the four main conceptions of assessment. Structural equation modelling showed a close fit of a hierarchical, multi-dimensional model to the data. Teachers moderately agreed with the improvement conceptions and the system accountability conception. Teachers disagreed that assessment was irrelevant. However, teachers had little agreement that assessment was for student accountability. Improvement, school, and student accountability conceptions were positively correlated. The irrelevance conception was inversely related to the improvement conception and not related to the system accountability conception. A four-factor structure of teachers' beliefs about assessment, curriculum, teaching, learning, and teacher efficacy, was found. Teachers agreed that assessment influences and improves their teaching and student learning. They agreed less strongly that assessment, measuring surface learning only, makes schools, teachers, and students accountable and that teachers are able to conduct assessment through a systematic technological approach. They agreed at a similar level with student centred learning that involves deep approaches to learning, divorced from assessment. They disagreed with a telling type of teaching that focuses only on intellectual development of students or on reconstruction or reform of society. Use of the CoA-III makes teachers' conceptions of assessment more explicit and will assist in the development of teacher training programs, the design of assessment policy, and enhance further research into educational assessment practices. Furthermore, explicit attention to teachers' conceptions of assessment is expected to be a precursor to teachers' self-regulation of their assessment beliefs and practices.

Teachers' conceptions are powerful in shaping the quality of their instructional practice. The purpose of this thesis is to defend a four-facet model of teachers' conceptions of assessment, which revolves around emphasising improvement or school accountability, or student accountability purposes or treating assessment as irrelevant. Further, it explores how those conceptions relate to teachers' conceptions of learning, teaching, curriculum, and teacher efficacy. A literature review is used to identify the major conceptions. Multiple studies led to a 50-item Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment (COA-III) questionnaire based on the four main conceptions of assessment. Structural equation modelling showed a close fit of a hierarchical, multi-dimensional model to the data. Teachers moderately agreed with the improvement conceptions and the system accountability conception. Teachers disagreed that assessment was irrelevant. However, teachers had little agreement that assessment was for student accountability. Improvement, school, and student accountability conceptions were positively correlated. The irrelevance conception was inversely related to the improvement conception and not related to the system accountability conception. A four-factor structure of teachers' beliefs about assessment, curriculum, teaching, learning, and teacher efficacy, was found. Teachers agreed that assessment influences and improves their teaching and student learning. They agreed less strongly that assessment, measuring surface learning only, makes schools, teachers, and students accountable and that teachers are able to conduct assessment through a systematic technological approach. They agreed at a similar level with student centred learning that involves deep approaches to learning, divorced from assessment. They disagreed with a telling type of teaching that focuses only on intellectual development of students or on reconstruction or reform of society. Use of the CoA-III makes teachers' conceptions of assessment more explicit and will assist in the development of teacher training programs, the design of assessment policy, and enhance further research into educational assessment practices. Furthermore, explicit attention to teachers' conceptions of assessment is expected to be a precursor to teachers' self-regulation of their assessment beliefs and practices.

Doctor of Education / Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology / Stephen Benton / This study explored the implications of cultural conceptions of the self (independent vs. interdependent) for epistemological beliefs, ways of knowing, and academic studying. Community college students (N = 340) were recruited from two community colleges in the Midwestern United States and one predominantly Hispanic community college in the Southwestern United States. Students completed a number of paper-and-pencil instruments, including measures of epistemological beliefs, self-construal, ways of knowing, and approaches to studying. As predicted, significant correlations were found between interdependent self-construal and omniscient authority, and also between interdependent self-construal and connected knowing. Although no effects were found for ethnicity on epistemological beliefs and ways of knowing, acculturation appears to be an important influence on ways of knowing. A path analysis indicated that acculturation exhibited both a direct and indirect effect on connected knowing. The indirect effect on connected knowing was through interdependent self-construal. Students who were less acculturated (i.e. more likely to speak English as a second language or to be born in another country) were more likely to endorse an interdependent self-construal, and consequently more likely to endorse connected knowing. These results suggest that conceptions of the self may be important influences on personal epistemology.

Master of Science / Department of Educational Leadership / Christy D. Moran / This report highlights the results of a revised diversity survey that was designed to assess the behaviors and attitudes of students who live in the residence halls at Kansas State University (K-State) regarding their interactions with people from diverse backgrounds. Diverse backgrounds, for the purpose of this study, are specifically related to a racial background different than their own. A survey of 25 questions was distributed to every residence hall student via email. The survey that was distributed was adapted from a version that was used previously by the Department of Housing & Dining Services at K-State. The original survey was based on the Michael P. Tilford competencies that were compiled in 2000-2001 by K-State's Tilford Group. The Tilford competencies are all based on students' multicultural competency. Multicultural competency is defined by the K-State Tilford group as the knowledge, skills and personal attributes needed to live and to work in a diverse world. (K-State Tilford Group, 2007) The revised survey focuses heavily on the skills portion of the Michael P. Tilford competencies and is based on students' self-report.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / This study explored the relationship between anesthesiology residents' In Training Examination (ITE) percentile ranks and learning styles and domains with the variables of gender, ethnicity, and postgraduate year (PGY). The ITE is a national examination given annually as a measure of cognitive achievement. The learning style instrument was the adapted Vermunt Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS), a diagnostic learning style instrument designed for use with university-level students. The study included 112 anesthesiology residents in anesthesiology graduate medical education (GME) at four universities (five sites) during the 2006-2007 PGY. Responses to the surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Pearson product-moment correlations, and stepwise and backward elimination regression analysis. The results indicated that the residents' ITE percentile ranks had a bimodal curve. The ILS has 20 scales representing four learning domains factored into four learning styles. The relationships of the learning styles with the ITE percentile ranks were significant for two learning styles: positive for the meaning directed learning style (MDLS) and negative for the undirected learning style (UDLS). Analysis of the scales comprising the MDLS (seven) and UDLS (five) revealed significant relationships for 6 of the 12 scales for the anesthesiology residents (five positive, one negative). An analysis of the domain scale relationships for the other eight scales identified an additional two scales positively related to ITE percentile ranks: vocation oriented and analyzing. The significant scales positively identified with ITE percentile ranks included relating and structuring, concrete processing, two self-regulation scales, construction of knowledge, analyzing and vocation oriented. The only scale significant with ITE percentile ranks was ambivalent, which was negative. The potential exists that the UDLS can identify, in part, residents at risk academically. The positive relationship of the meaning directed learning style and the two significant, positive scales (analyzing and vocation oriented) with ITE percentile ranks offered an indication of learning styles and strategies of residents with higher cognitive achievement outcomes. These learning strategies have the potential to help residents learn how to learn more effectively.