Student conceptions of assessment: The role of interest and self-efficacy in reading on performance

Self-regulation of learning requires that students conceive of assessments as a means of reflecting upon and guiding their learning. The relationship of student beliefs about the importance, usefulness, or purpose of assessment to self-efficacy and interest and their joint effect on reading performance has not been investigated. In the context of a large nationally representative survey of New Zealand secondary school students, participants completed either Form 1 or 2 of the Student Conceptions of Assessment (SCoA) inventory version 2, a brief inventory on self-efficacy and interest in reading, and a standardised reading achievement test. Measurement models for both forms of the SCoA were established using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. A structural model relating conceptions of assessment to reading performance for each version of the SCoA inventory was established. Invariance of the models for students with high vs. low levels of self-efficacy or interest in reading was tested. Only two conceptions of assessment had statistically significant relations to achievement (i.e., assessment makes me accountable and assessment is useless). Metric equivalence was found for all groups and forms, except version 2A interest. Accountability effects were generally small and not statistically significant, while effects from useless were stronger and negative. Differences between levels of interest and self-efficacy were small. These results suggest that students with lower and higher self-reported interest and self-efficacy can be treated similarly, with a focus on reducing the maladaptive effects of believing assessment is useless.