Teachers’ information processing and judgement accuracy: effects of information consistency and accountability

in European Journal of Psychology of Education (2020), 35(3), 675-702

Research has shown that teachers are able to adapt their processing strategy of student information to situational demands, whereby they flexibly use either an automatic and category-based strategy or a ... [more ▼]

Research has shown that teachers are able to adapt their processing strategy of student information to situational demands, whereby they flexibly use either an automatic and category-based strategy or a controlled and information-integrating strategy. However, the effect of teachers’ accountability for task and the consistency of student information on strategy use is less clear. In two experimental studies, teachers were presented with consistent and inconsistent student profiles, whereby accountability levels were systematically varied. In the first study, the attention to and memory of information were investigated as indicators of changes in information processing strategy. In the second study, resulting changes in judgement accuracy were investigated. Results of study 1 provided support for the theoretical assumption that people apply the category-based strategy when confronted with consistent information under low accountability conditions, while inconsistent information and high accountability conditions led to the use of information-integration strategy. Results of study 2 showed that teachers’ judgement accuracy generally increased in relation to high accountability conditions and to lesser extent profile consistency, whereby inaccuracy reflected both under- and overestimation of student ability. The combined results suggest that the use of differential information processing strategies not only leads to differences in the attention to and processing of information, but also results in differences in the quality of judgements and decision making, especially under high accountability conditions. [less ▲]

Das Übergangsurteil am Ende der Grundschulzeit – Welcher Urteilsstrategie folgen Lehrkräfte bei der Infomationssuche?

Scientific Conference (2016)

Eine Analyse der Informationssuche bei der Erstellung der Übergangsempfehlung: Welcher Urteilsregel folgen Lehrkräfte?

in Journal for Educational Research Online (2015), 7(2), 59-81

Die Erfassung diagnostischer Kompetenz mit Fallvignetten: Welche Rolle spielen Kontextinformationen?

Scientific Conference (2013, March)

The impact of accountability on teachers' assessments of student performance: A social cognitive analysis

in Social Psychology of Education (2013), 16

Research on teachers’ judgments of student performance has demonstrated that educational assessments may be biased or may more correctly take the achievements of students into account depending on ... [more ▼]

Research on teachers’ judgments of student performance has demonstrated that educational assessments may be biased or may more correctly take the achievements of students into account depending on teachers’ motivations while making the judgment. Building on research on social judgment formation the present investigation examined whether the accountability of teachers has an influence on judgment formation. We predicted that unaccountable teachers would activate social categories and use them for the assessment, whereas accountable teachers’ attention would be directed to individual attributes of students. Using secondary school teachers as participants, three studies investigating teachers’ assessments, inferences and memory for students’ attributes supported these hypotheses. Thus, accountability appears to be a moderator of social information processing and judgment formation in the domain of educational assessments. [less ▲]

Bericht an die DFG zum DFG-Projekt "Pädagogische Leistungsbeurteilung als sozial-kognitiver Prozess: Können kognitive Heuristiken Urteilsfehler erklären und Verarbeitungsziele ihr Auftreten moderieren?"

Report (2012)

Leistungsbeurteilungen von Schulkindern: Welche Rolle spielen Ziele und Expertise der Lehrkraft?

in Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Padagogische Psychologie (2012), 44

This article investigates the influence of different goals in processing students’ attributes (e. g., mathematical achievement in a test) on inferences and achievement judgments. Teachers as experts and ... [more ▼]

This article investigates the influence of different goals in processing students’ attributes (e. g., mathematical achievement in a test) on inferences and achievement judgments. Teachers as experts and university students of natural sciences as laymen received a case report. Participants were instructed to either form an impression of the personality and the performance of the student (impression formation goal) or to predict his/her future performance (prediction goal). Afterwards participants summarized the case report in their own words and judged the academic achievements of the described student. With the prediction goal, experts proceeded by focusing on the attributes of a student; with the impression formation goal, they used a given social category. Laymen’s processing was not influenced by goals. [less ▲]

Bericht an die DFG zum DFG/FNR-Projekt "Diagnostische Kompetenz von Grundschullehrkräften bei der Erstellung der Übergangsempfehlung: Untersuchungen zur ökologischen Validität von Fallvignetten"

Report (2011)

Die Übergangsempfehlung am Ende der Grundschulzeit. Welche Merkmale von Schülerinnen und Schülern erachten Lehrkräfte als übergangsrelevant?

in Schulverwaltung: Zeitschrift für Schulleitung und Schulaufsicht, Nordrhein-Westfalen (2011), 22

Diagnostic competence in school transition recommendations

Scientific Conference (2010, October)