An Examination of High School Teachers' Reported Knowledge, Use, Preparation, and Importance of Higher-Level Thinking Questions in Summative Assessments
Author: Stock, Jason John
Date: 2013-02-00
Type: Tests/Questionnaires
Subjects: Secondary School Teachers,Knowledge Level,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Critical Thinking,Thinking Skills,Summative Evaluation,Teacher Surveys,Urban Schools,Suburban Schools,Rural Schools,Demography,Predictor Variables,Gender Differences,Teaching Experience,Intellectual Disciplines,Educational Attainment,School Location,School Size,Grouping (Instructional Purposes),Federal Programs,Educational Indicators,Statistical Significance,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Correlation,Principals,Teacher Education,Expertise,Colleges,Classification,Formative Evaluation,Standardized Tests,High Stakes Tests,College Entrance Examinations,Measures (Individuals)

In this empirical study, teacher reported knowledge, use, preparation, and importance of higher-level thinking summative assessment questions were analyzed. This study was conducted using a survey distributed to seven Minnesota high schools that represented urban, suburban, and rural settings. Survey responses were cross tabulated with demographic and background variables of the sample group including gender, years teaching, years in current position, subject area taught, highest level of education achieved, location of school, size of school, grade level configuration of school, and AYP status. Statistically significant findings were qualitatively and quantitatively examined. The following research questions were investigated. 1) What relationships exist between teachers' demographics and their accuracy in identification of higher-level thinking questions?, (a) Demographic information and respondents who correctly identified at least two of the three higher-level thinking questions, (b) Demographic information and respondents who correctly identified all three of the higher-level thinking questions. 2) What relationships exist between teachers' demographics and: (a) Their use and importance of higher-level thinking questions in summative assessments, (b) The strategies used by their building principals to convey the importance of using higher-level thinking assessment questions, (c) The preparation they received at their university/college in developing higher-level thinking questions in summative assessments and the quality/frequency of school or district staff development opportunities on developing higher-level thinking questions in their summative assessments, (d) Their knowledge/expertise in developing higher-level thinking questions in summative assessments, (e) The identification of a person responsible for preparing teachers for developing higher-level thinking questions in summative assessments. 3) What relationship exists between teacher ratings of importance of higher-level thinking questions in summative assessments and: (a) Their school making Adequate Yearly Progress., (b) Their district employing a designated person to monitor development of higher-level thinking questions in teacher constructed assessments. Findings revealed in this study were that less than one in four teachers could correctly identify all three higher-level thinking questions from a sampling of three higher-level and three lower-level thinking questions. Furthermore, a significant gender difference within these results was also discovered: more male than female teachers correctly identified all three of the higher-level thinking questions. Another important finding was that the majority of teachers surveyed believed that higher-level thinking questions in summative assessments were very important, but less than one in five reported that they have very high knowledge and expertise in this area. Administrators would be interested to know that over three in four teachers rate their staff development programs as average to poor in helping them develop higher-level thinking questions on summative assessments. In another important finding, respondents ranked institutions of higher learning as the most responsible for preparing teachers to incorporate higher-level thinking questions into their assessments while the building principal was ranked as least responsible for this preparation. The survey population was exclusively high school teachers, so there was a close correlation between what the researcher was seeking to find through this study and the ability of the respondents to provide information. The following are appended: (A) Survey Introduction Letter to Administrators; (B) Survey; and (C) St. Cloud State University Institutional Review Board Letter.