Physical Educators’ Attitudes toward Grading Students

RM 217

Grades have different purposes for different people. Although they may provide indices about student learning and teacher effectiveness, grading is a process that widely continues to be an issue in physical education. Despite state and national efforts to provide physical education standards for the development of an outcomes based curriculum, many teachers grade students with subjective and inappropriate methods such as effort, participation, and attire. Although this is a serious concern, evidence about teachers’ attitudes toward grading is minimal. Moreover, a review of literature did not indicate any theoretically driven survey to assess attitudes of physical educators toward grading students. This study will provide the foundational research to develop a survey that assesses teacher attitudes toward grading students in California middle and high schools. A nine item elicitation survey was developed according to Ajzen’s (1991, 2019) Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB). Thirty-five physical educators attending the 2019 California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance State Conference were asked to complete the survey and 30 (85%) agreed to do so. Teacher responses to the survey will be applied to a thematic analysis. Results from the analysis will identify patterns of salient beliefs and outcomes, salient referents and control beliefs associated with grading in physical education. Ultimately teacher responses will serve as the basis of developing a survey in accordance with the protocol of the TpB (Ajzen, 1991, 2019). Once the survey is completed it will be pilot tested, revised and used in a final study of teachers in California.