Gauging the assessment literacy of Malaysia’s home economics teachers: An empirical study

Abstract

In the effort to develop a world class educational system for Malaysia, the knowledge and skill in classroom
assessment has to be upgraded to allow teachers to carry out a more effective teaching and learning process. Thus,
the objectives of this study were to measure the level of assessment literacy based on the Standard for Teachers’
Competence in Educational Assessment of Students (AFT, NCME, NEA, 1990) and also to identify differences in
assessment literacy based on teachers’ experience practising competency-based assessment. The instrument used to
measure Teacher’s Assessment Literacyconsisted of 41 multiple choice items with the reliability index (KR20) =.73.
Primary data were gathered from questionnaires completed and returned by 187 home economic teachers teaching
Vocational Subjects in Malaysian secondary schools . The result of One-Way ANOVA test indicated that there was
a significant difference between teachers’ assessment literacy and their experience of practising competency-based
assessment (F (2,184=3.46, p< .05). The findings reflected that Home Economics teachers in Malaysia’s secondary
schools had an average level of assessment literacy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for continuous professional
development courses involving classroom assessment for Home Economics teachers to improve their practices, in
particular, competency-based assessment.

Keywords: assessment literacy, competency-based assessment, educational assessment, home economics, school
based assessment, standard for teacher competence