Students’ Conceptions of Assessment : A Case Study on Two Classroom-Based Tests for Student Learning in the IB (International Baccalaureate) Programme in Sweden.

Abstract: This study examines IB (International Baccalaureate) students’ conceptions of assessment and their learning outcomes. Twenty pre-DP (Diploma Programme) students from two different classes from a Swedish school were interviewed for this research. Students were given two different tests – essay and short-answered questions – to observe possible differences in learning outcome based on test design. The findings here show that students have a positive outlook on their graded assessment but generally has negative feeling about time constraints for in-class tests. Three main conceptions on the purpose of assessment were found: assessment makes student accountable; assessment describes and measures student learning progress and historical thinking; and assessment improves the quality of their learning. They believe teachers use the information from assessment to improve their teaching. The results also show that students perceive assessment as important and has a number of different effects on their learning. Students emphasise the significance of detailed feedback for their learning. Despite doing two different tests, the students’ conceptions of their learning outcomes were similar to a great extent. Most agree on their deeper understanding of context and different perspectives on the causes of World War One. Students also concur on the improvement of their knowledge on certain concepts, cause and effect relations, and their analytical skills. The students’ results did not show significant difference between classes in the retainment of information by doing an online quiz three weeks after their test. The only slight difference in their responses is that class 1, who wrote the in-class essay, may have learned a bit more in-depth knowledge about nationalism due to their essay question. This study is one of the first in Sweden to examine students’ conceptions of assessment (SCoA) by applying Brown’s (2017) SCoA Codebook and Peterson and Irving’s (2008) model. The results provide insight to how assessment can help students learn based on the learners’ perspective and should be utilised by Swedish and IB educators. However, there are a number of improvements that can be applied for further and more robust research and results.