Formatief Toetsen van Levensvisie

Abstract

For the discipline of Religious Education students make assignments with a personal character. In working on these assignments, collected in a life-view book, they are developing their life-view. The discussion in Narthex, the Dutch journal of teachers of RE shows that it is not clear how these assignments can be tested in a proper way, because of the risk of a subjective assessment. In an interview students tell that they get little means to gain insight in the way the assessment has come to terms. Research on testing of religious education is limited.
The purpose of this investigation is to develop an instrument that can be used by teachers in an objective way to give feedback to their students and to assess the assignments. This instrument should also be used as a tool to accompany the students, giving it a formative function, to give insight in their learning-process and to raise their level.
Research shows that a rubric as an instrument can have these functions. For that reason a rubric will be developed, containing three assessmentcriteria and three or four levels, depending on the grade. The rubric will be judged on reliability, validity, transparancy, usability and possibilities for feedback. 50 students of the Marnix Gymnasium in Rotterdam, of 12-17 years and of four groups, are participants. Their assignments are assessed by two teachers. The selected students and their parents gave their permission to use the data. A statistical analysis has been made of the scores on the criteria and the marks, on the correlation of each teacher and on the consistency between the raters. The experiences of the students are examined in a group-interview.
The analysis is done by using Pearson’s Correlation and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The group-interview is recorded and transcribed, the manuscript is coded and elaborated in a report.
The reliability of the assesmentcriteria is sufficiently made acceptable. The score on the first criterium, in which examples of the students are assessed, is too low. The assignments are not structured clear enough and the teachers have not been able to coordinate their assessment sufficiently. The students are satisfied with the validity, transparancy, usability and feedback of the rubric, but their are still possibilities to ameliorate the rubric.
As a conclusion of this research a rubric is an appropriate instrument to test assignments on life-view and the personal development of students in a formative way. In an iterative process the rubric must be further developed by teachers and by students.

Date of Award	2020
Original language	Dutch
Supervisor	Saskia Brand - Gruwel (Supervisor) & Kevin Ackermans (Supervisor)