Fairness is a perennial ideal in educational assessment. For most of the 20th century, objective tests were viewed as a means of bypassing teachers' inconsistencies in grading, and fairness was defined in technical terms for the development and administration of tests. As the 21 st century opened, the limitations of standardized tests for supporting student learning had become apparent, and interest in the pedagogical potential of classroom assessment was renewed. Although teachers' assessment decisions can have profound, long-term effects for students, most of the guidance for fair assessment still focuses on standardized testing. This study was motivated by the need for a better understanding of fairness in the classroom environment where the primary purpose of assessment is ideally to support learning. I approached my research from the perspective of critical pragmatism, which assumes that diverse forms of knowledge are valuable, including ethical and practical knowledge. I drew on the practical wisdom (phronesis) of experienced teachers to understand fairness specifically in the assessment of writing in English Language Arts in Grades 7 to 12 in Ontario. Practical wisdom is a responsive network that combines theoretical and technical knowledge, moral beliefs and ethical knowledge, experience, personal characteristics, and an understanding of the particulars of practice. I began my research by immersing myself in the literature, investigating the educational context, tailoring my research tools, and purposefully selecting teachers to participate based on their education and experience. Six participants responded in writing to vignettes that illustrated fairness dilemmas, and we discussed their recommendations for fair assessment during follow-up interviews. Insight that emerged from this process is that some strategies contribute to the fairness of classroom assessment, such as developing a constructive learning environment, sharing expectations and criteria, and offering students relevant opportunities to learn and demonstrate their learning. At the crux, however, fairness rests in a teacher's ability to understand students and their learning, and to reflect about the ongoing interactions and decisions involved in the use of assessment for learning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/30029 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Tierney, Robin D |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 367 p. |
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