Teachers' Conceptions of Fairness in Classroom Assessment: An Empirical Study

• In Event: Teachers' Conceptions of Fairness, Decision Rationales, and Formative Assessment and Feedback Practices in Classroom Assessment

Abstract

Since 1970s, fairness in assessment has received persistent attention. Recently, scholars have therefore attempted to conceptualize fairness in classroom assessment from teacher and students’ perspectives. This study contributes to this emerging literature and draws on interview data from 28 high school teachers’ conceptions of fairness to add to the current conceptualizations. Teachers’ conceptions of fairness in classroom assessment were influenced by three themes: (a) teacher as individual, (b) social context, and (c) negotiations between teacher as individual and social context. These themes underscore how teachers’ individual philosophies and experiences interact with their encounters with social contexts of society, schools, and classrooms to shape their conceptions and practices of fairness in classrooms and assessments.

Authors

• Amir Rasooli, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta

• Abdolah Rasegh, University of Tehran

• Hamed Zandi, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

• Tahereh Firoozi, University of Alberta