The interplay of user beliefs and situated characteristics in explaining school performance feedback use

ABSTRACT

The present study explores predictors of school performance feedback (SPF) use. In total, 470 Flemish educational professionals were surveyed about their use of SPF from school-external, low-stakes standardized assessments. A path analysis was conducted in order to investigate how individual user beliefs impact SPF use at the school level and how those beliefs mediate the effects of school-level features pertaining to school organization, performance, and voluntariness. Findings include that users’ cognitive attitude and perceived expectations of others have a small effect on engagement with SPF in schools, and that these predictors mediate the effects of certain organizational characteristics. Whereas performance levels do not impact school-level feedback use, voluntariness in feedback pursuit and particularly an SPF-oriented school culture emerge as drivers. Implications for practice include the need for stimulating ownership in data-based decision making. Suggestions for further research are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• School performance feedback
• school improvement
• data-based decision making
• data culture
• theory of planned behavior

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Mieke Heyvaert and Isabel Laenen for their feedback and assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study is part of a research project on school performance feedback use within the Policy Research Center for Test Development and Assessments (STEP), funded by the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training (Flanders, Belgium).

Notes on contributors

Evelyn Goffin

Evelyn Goffin is a PhD researcher in educational sciences at the University of Antwerp and KU Leuven, and a team member of STEP, the policy research center responsible for the Flemish national assessments. Her research focuses on the use of school performance feedback for school improvement.

Rianne Janssen

Rianne Janssen is a full professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at KU Leuven and the supervisor of STEP. Her primary research interests include psychometrics and educational measurement.

Jan Vanhoof

Jan Vanhoof is a full professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Antwerp and a co-supervisor of STEP. His primary research interests include school policy and quality assurance in general and school self-evaluation and data use in education in particular.