Assessment is an essential tool to document progress and performance of students. Besides creating accountability of student achievement, it also provides evidence of students' outcomes for policy makers. Without nationally mandated assessment systems, teachers are free to implement what best fits their objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of educational background, school size, public versus private school setting, and teacher gender on the frequency and types of assessment utilized in elementary physical education.
Method
A comprehensive 60-item survey deployed to 956 elementary physical educators in a Midwestern state, resulted in a 37.1% response rate. The survey instrument, developed with expert input, addressed teacher and school demographics, instructional content, and assessment.
Analysis/Results
Descriptive results showed 78.1% of schools conducting formalized fitness testing with 67.5% utilizing the Presidential Physical Fitness Test, 18.8% Fitnessgram, and 13.7% Physical Best. Additionally, 94.9% of the teachers conduct assessments including the following types: teacher 89.3%, peer 35.2%, self 51.3%, quizzes 30.1%, homework 14.1%, logs 15.5%, and journals 11.8%. Chi-square analyses of the educational background of the teacher (bachelors in PE, masters in PE, adapted PE certification, bachelors in other field, masters in other field) with the utilization of three common fitness testing assessments yielded no significant differences for the presidential or physical best. However, teachers with masters degrees in other fields used the Fitnessgram to a significantly greater level than other teachers c2 = 6.07, p = 0.14. A correlational analysis of the total school enrollment to the frequency of instructional assessment revealed a slightly significant inverse relationship, r = -.110, p = 0.47. A t-test analysis of public and private schools demonstrated that private school teachers (M = 2.97) assessed units of instruction to a significantly greater degree than public school teachers (M = 2.64), t = 2.187, p = .029. Additionally, t-test analyses comparing teacher gender with frequency of assessment and total types of assessment revealed significant differences. The females (M = 2.73) assessed units of instruction more frequently than males (M = 2.55), t = 1.975, p = .049. Female teachers (M = 2.77) also used more types of assessment than the males (M = 2.30), t = 2.901, p = .004.
Conclusions
The resulting baseline data from this study regarding assessment informs key stakeholders in elementary physical education. These results demonstrate that several factors can influence the types and frequency of assessment and warrants further study.