Evaluation of electronic assessment systems within the USA and their ability to meet the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Standard 2

Abstract

This study explored what types (commercial, in-house, or hybrid) of electronic assessment systems (EASs) are currently being used at university-based educator preparation programs, how important the system components were at the time of system selection, how satisfied users were with the components of the system, and how well they perceive that their EAS was able to meet the data collection requirements of National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Standard 2. An electronic survey was sent to 775 NCATE coordinators or their equivalent as identified from each institution’s Web site with 225 participants completing the survey for a response rate of 31 %. Results showed that all EAS components identified were considered to be important and that the respondents were satisfied in general with the performance of those components. Further analysis revealed a lower level of satisfaction with the EAS components when compared to the importance of those same components. Also, analysis based on the specific type of EAS revealed differences in respondent perceptions regarding the system’s ability to systematically collect data, faculty access to the data, the ability to aggregate data, the ability to collect multiple assessments, and the costs associated with the system.