Cross-Subject Variability in Factors Affecting the Validity of Teachers’ Reports of Instruction on Annual Surveys: Comparison of Mathematics and Literacy Instruction

• In Event: Measurement Issues in Survey Research

Abstract

This study attempts to address following questions: How different are teachers’ overreports of instruction on annual surveys across subjects? Which teacher, classroom or school characteristics predict teachers’ overreports of math and literacy instruction on annual surveys? We found that the directions of the differences between annual surveys and daily logs for measuring instruction were the same across subject matters, but the magnitudes of the differences between the two instruments varies across subject areas. Teachers tended to overstate their instructional practices on annual surveys across subject areas, teachers’ overreports on the annual surveys were larger on literacy instruction than on mathematics instruction. We also found that factors affecting teachers’ overreports of instruction on annual surveys vary across subjects.

Authors

• Seong Won Han, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Eric M. Camburn, University of Wisconsin