Teaching or Student Characteristics? How Teachers Attribute Student Outcomes When Interpreting Data

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Research and Assessment in the Lives of Teachers

Abstract

The effectiveness of teachers’ use of data may depend upon their perceptions of the causes of student outcomes—in other words, their attribution of the outcomes as reflected by data. Teachers may be more likely to alter their instruction when they attribute outcomes to their own teaching. Conversely, attribution to student characteristics may dampen student outcomes. This paper reports on a qualitative study of teachers’ interpretations of student data, finding that fewer than half of the documented examples of attribution could have served as instructional feedback. Also, many examples involved attribution to student characteristics, often special education or English learner status. The study shows the potential of teachers using data as feedback and the dangers of attribution to student characteristics.

Authors

• Melanie Bertrand, Arizona State University

• Julie A. Marsh, University of Southern California