Assessment during COVID-19: Students and Teachers in Limbo When the Classroom Disappeared

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics (Item means and standard deviations) and factor analysis for items related to assessment practices.

	M (SD) All students (n = 4377)	Attitudes	Feedback	Individual
1: Home-schooling has had a good effect on my learning.	2.50 (.91)	.819
2: Home-schooling has been good for my concentration on schoolwork.	2.46 (1.00)	.849
3: I experienced mastery in the assessment tasks I was given.	2.77 (.85)	.684
4: I enjoy home-schooling because I get peace and quiet while I work.	2.95 (1.02)	.754
5: My learning was mostly followed up in a good way.	2.71 (.75)		.694
6: I have been involved in assessing my own work during home-schooling.	2.20 (.81)		.664
7: I have been given relevant feedback that has helped my learning.	2.64 (.78)	.	.743
8: It is unclear what is to be included in the final grading.	2.54 (.86)		.619
9: The teachers have clearly communicated what counts as final grades.	2.50 (.82)		.782
10: I have learned most of the subject curriculum myself during home-schooling.	3.28 (.81)			.766
11: I have mostly worked individually with tasks during home-schooling.	3.51 (.67)			.726
12: I have taken responsibility for my own learning to a greater extent than before.	3.37 (.78)			.569
% of variance explained		28.8	11.1	8.9
Internal consistency		.854	.780	.526

Figure 1. Box plots of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of assessment practices.

Table 2. Interview themes.

	Students	Teachers
Self-Regulation	Students had to organize their learning tasks and assignments by themselves. High-performing students found this good, low-performing students struggled.	Control of learning with several assignments. Assessment of learning to a greater extent than assessment for learning.
Feedback	Feedback is more important than ever and important with good communication between teacher and student.	Little individual adapted teaching and feedback.
Student Involvement	Students missed dialogue and did not like whole class lessons without interaction. There was less attention from teachers.	Teachers found it more difficult to communicate with students, especially with students who struggle with schoolwork. Teachers struggled to find good pedagogical tools for involvement. The contact with the students was poor. It affected the students who really need help.
Collaboration	Because there was less organized collaboration by teachers, students had to organize collaboration by themselves.	The school leadership did not support the teachers pedagogically, only organizationally.
Motivation and Self-Efficacy	There was less stress because of canceled exams, more time for more in-depth learning.	Teachers had less stress when the exam was canceled. They could spend time on more learning rather than exam preparation. There was pressure from school leadership to ensure enough assignments for final grading.