TEACHERS ATTITUDES TOWARD TESTING PRACTICES

The purpose of this research was to investigate how teachers' attitude s toward testing practices affect the way teachers prepare and adminis ter standardized tests. Classroom teachers (N = 186) from Georgia took the testing practices instrument developed to measure the three varia bles (behavior, attitude. and pressure) examined in this study. Attitu des were negatively correlated with behavior; teachers who felt that t he testing practices were dishonest were less likely to engage in them . Pressure to increase standardized test scores was positively correla ted with behavior: the greater the perceived pressure (subjective norm s) to increase test scores, the greater the likelihood that teachers h ad engaged in more test preparation activities. The data also suggest that the amount of test preparation was greater in the lower grades th an in the upper grades and that teachers in schools with more low-soci oeconomic-status (SES) students tended to engage in more test preparat ion activities than their colleagues in higher SES schools.