Modeling the Relationship Between Perceptions of Assessment Tasks and Classroom Assessment Environment as a Function of Gender

A substantial proportion of the classroom time involves exposing students to a variety of assessment tasks. As students process these tasks, they develop beliefs about the importance, utility, value, and difficulty of the tasks. This study aimed at deriving a model describing the multivariate relationship between students' perceptions of the assessment tasks and classroom assessment environment as a function of gender. Using a clustering sampling procedure, participants were 411 students selected from the second cycle of the basic education grades at Muscat public schools in Oman. As defined by McMillan (Educational research: Fundamentals of the consumer, 2012, pp. 176-177), the research design employed in this study was descriptive in nature that includes correlational and comparative aspects. Results revealed statistically significant gender differences with respect to the perceptions of the assessment tasks and classroom assessment environment favoring female students. Also, results showed that for both males and females, a learning-oriented assessment environment tended to be associated with high degrees of congruence with instruction, authenticity, student consultation, and diversity. However, the relationship between performance-oriented assessment environment and perceptions of the assessment tasks differed in male and female classrooms. Implications for instruction and assessment as well as recommendations for future research were discussed.