Professional development courses and alternative assessment strategies for in-service science education teachers

Abstract

The present study aims to determine the effect of in-service professional development training courses on science teachers’ acquisition and implementation of alternative assessment strategies (AAS). A random sample of 512 science teachers responded to a questionnaire to determine the degree of acquisition of AAS and an observation card to determine the degree of implementation of AAS. The results of the study indicate that there are significant differences between the means of science teachers’ acquisition of alternative assessment strategies due to the variable of enrollment in in-service professional development training courses in favor of the science teachers who were previously enrolled in these courses. On the other hand, the results indicated no significant differences between the mean scores of science teachers’ implementation of alternative assessment strategies due to enrollment in in-service professional development training courses. Also, all the correlation coefficients between the degree of science teachers' acquisition of alternative assessment strategies and the degree to which they implement them according to the variable of enrollment in in-service professional development training courses are not statistically significant. The study provides a number of practical and theoretical recommendations for the field of study. For example, the education system in Jordan should provide science teachers with regular professional workshops and training courses. Future research should examine the differences between two groups of science teachers (those who used alternative assessment strategies compared to those who did not) to determine their impact on outcome level variables (e.g., learning and achievement of students).