The evaluation of measurement and evaluation approaches used in fifth grade mathematics instruction in terms of students and teachers? opinions

The purpose of this research is to determine the opinions of teachers and students on the alternative measurement and evaluation dimensions of 5th grade curriculum program that was begun to be applied in 2005-2006 academic years. In addition, it was aimed to reveal the problems that teachers and students face during classroom activities. The research was based on a survey model where quantitative and qualitative methods were used together.The population of the study consisted of the 5th grade teachers who work at the primary schools in the center districts of Adana (Seyhan, Yüreğir). The 5th grade students in these schools were also the population of the research. Selecting samples for the research was done in two phases for quantitative and qualitative data. The sample of the study for quantitative data consisted of 226 5th grade teachers and 881 5th grade students selected through random method. The sample of the study for qualitative data consisted of 25 5th grade teachers, and 45 students in accordance with conditional sampling method through the data obtained from the questionnaires. Typical situation sampling method was used in the selection of the classroom where the observation was done.The data was collected through the assessment questionnaire ?Measurement and Assessment Questionnaire?, interview forms, which were semi structured, and not structured observation and document analysis. The analysis of the data were obtained from descriptive statistics as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-square analysis, factor analysis, correlation, t-test, variance, Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitey U and content analysis. The results obtained from the research can be summarized as following:1)5th grade students and teachers agreed with the alternative measurement and assessment objectives of math lesson, and teachers were able to implement these activities generally in their classrooms,2)Alternative measurement and assessment objectives contributed students to make researches, develop students? skills and also measure the characteristics of the students,3)Students liked doing homework consisting of measurements and assessment,4)In the preparation of the measurement instruments, the level and knowledge of the students were mostly considered, besides these measuring instruments were at the level of knowledge and application,5)In the scoring stage of the traditional measuring instruments, the difficulty level of the questions and knowledge level of the students were important; however, students? individual skills and daily performances were in the scoring of the alternative measuring instruments,6)Observation, short-answer questions, interviews and multiple choice questions were mostly used in the classrooms while project homework, attitude scale, performance task, rubric and peer assessment were used less,7)During assessment, the teachers stated that they had some problems since several reasons like not having adequate time, having large classes, too much time spent for filling the assessment forms, not having time for presentation, lack of knowledge on measurement and assessment techniques, students? not understanding the objectives of alternative measurement and assessments, having access to ready information, parents? doing homework, not having the chance of doing group work out of the school, not filling the forms objectively, and there were too many criteria related to assessment forms. In addition to these, students also stated that they already had too many performance and project homework, and they had difficulty in reaching the necessary sources and meeting as a group out of the school.In line with these conclusions, it can be seen that both teachers and students have positive opinions about alternative measurement and assessment approaches, however, in the application process they seemed to be having some problems. Some suggestions were also made at the end of the study in the direction of solving these problems.