The analysis of teacher candidates? competency perceptions on measurement and assessment

The purpose of this study is to determine the perception of measurement and assessment competencies of teacher candidates? studying at AİBU Faculty of Education and to identify whether these competences differ in terms of gender, type of education and their major.The participants of this survey model research are 627 (435 female, 192 male) fourth grade teacher candidates? studying at various departments of Abant İzzet Baysal University during the 2009-2010 academic year.?Measurement and Assessment General Competency Perception Scale? developed by Nartgün (2008) is used to collect the data on measurement and assessment competency perceptions. The scale is composed of 24 items; 6 items under the ?Basic Concepts? subscale, 9 items under the ?Measurement Techniques? subscale, 9 items under the ?Statistical Analysis and Reporting? subscale. Data collection instrument is a 5-point Likert type scale ranging between ?very competent? and ?very incompetent?. Data gathered are analyzed using the SPSS-15 program. The first research question of the study is analyzed through mean and standard deviation values. The second and third questions are analyzed trough Independent Samples t-test and the fourth question through one-way analysis of variance.The results of the study reveal that as for the overall competency perceptions of teacher candidates, they feel competent about ?Basic Concepts? and ?Measurement Techniques? whereas they do not feel fully competent about ?Statistical Analysis and Reporting? subscale. Teacher candidates? see themselves competent in measurement and assessment skills at the medium level.In terms of gender, there are significant differences between males and females for each subscale and as a whole. Male teacher candidates seem to have higher level of competency perception than that of females.In terms of type of education, day class teacher candidates? perceived themselves more competent than the evening class group in the ?Basic Concepts? subscale, there was no difference in other subscales and the scale as a whole.As for the majors, teacher candidates display significant differences in competency perception for each subscale and as a whole. The results indicate that Science Education teacher candidates? perceived themselves more competent than those in any other program and Special Education program students see themselves less competent than the rest.In relation to the results of the study, some recommendations are stated.