An Analysis of Science Teachers’ Stages of Concern and Levels of Use on Descriptive Assessment

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the current status of science teachers’ stage of concern (SOC) and level of use (LoU) on descriptive assessment and determine the relationship between SoC and LoU. To achieve this, concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) was used, and a survey was conducted on 138 science teachers. The data from this study were analyzed by frequency analysis, percentile analysis based on CBAM, χ² test, and Spearman correlation analysis. SoC and LoU of the science teachers observed in this study are as follows. First, the science teachers’ overall SoC for the descriptive assessment was low and showed a typical pattern of the initial stage when the program was introduced. Second, LoU analysis on descriptive assessment showed that the “mechanical Use” (N=49, 35.5%) or “routine” (N=48, 34.8%) accounted for the majority. Third, the Spearman correlation between SoC and LoU on descriptive assessment was .299(p<.01). This suggests that teachers’ SoC needs to be increased in order to promote higher LoU on descriptive assessment, which requires new alternative measures.