Classroom assessment adjustments, academic achievement, academic wellbeing: a mixed methods study of australian secondary school students with and without disabilities

This mixed methods study examined the relationship between academic achievement and academic wellbeing for students with and without disabilities, and the effect of the provision of assessment adjustments on achievement and academic wellbeing for students with disabilities, in Australian mainstream secondary schooling.

The study is framed through the biopsychosocial model of disability and social-cognitive theory, emphasising the interactional nature of disability with personal and environmental factors. Although correlational studies examining relationships between achievement and academic wellbeing have been undertaken elsewhere, this study provides evidence about the nature of these relationships for students in Australia. Further, a qualitative study was undertaken to provide new insights into how academic achievement and wellbeing are related for students with disabilities in inclusive education settings. In these settings, adjustments to enable students to demonstrate their achievement are expected in law and policy.

A two-strand parallel mixed methods design was used with data collected from two independent groups of participants. In Strand 1 of the study, a correlational study was conducted with 42 students with disabilities and 80 students without disabilities in classrooms in mainstream schools in Australia. Students in the middle years of schooling (Years 7-10) are particularly at risk of not completing school. The students completed the Academic Wellbeing Questionnaire comprised of three research scales: (a) the Self Description Questionnaire II (SDQ-II); (b) the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale (IAR); and (c) the subscale of School Satisfaction from The Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS; Huebner, 1994). Information recorded by schools for the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) was used to identify the level of implemented adjustments in the classroom for students with disabilities. Student achievement data in English and Mathematics based on classroom assessments were provided by schools.

Strand 2 of the study consisted of two segments, individual qualitative case studies and cross-case analysis with four case study students. These students completed structured and semi-structured surveys from the Adjustments in Classroom Assessment Project (ACAP) study as well as the Academic Wellbeing Questionnaire. Classroom assessment tasks, adjustments and student assessment responses were collected for the case study students. The first segment of Strand 2 of the study explored how teachers adjusted teacher-designed classroom assessment tasks for four case study students with regard to impairments in access skills and target skills that were assessed by a task. The tasks were summative assessment tasks intended to contribute to reporting to parents but also to have a formative assessment role to contribute to improving student learning. The perceptions of the students, parents, and teachers were explored as to how the provided adjustments related to student outcomes in focus subject areas. The provided assessment adjustments enabled the case study students to demonstrate their knowledge, although not all students were satisfied with their outcomes. The second segment of Strand 2 of the study investigated the academic achievement of case study students in relation to their academic wellbeing under adjusted assessment conditions.
The synthesised findings of this study indicated that students with disabilities in inclusive education in mainstream schools are not necessarily low achievers but can reach a level of achievement in some or even all subject areas similar to students without disabilities. The perception of students with and without disabilities about academic abilities, especially in mathematics, was related to their achievement level. Students with and without disabilities had a similar thinking style about academic responsibility. This meant that they were more likely to take internal responsibility for academic success than failure. Findings indicated that students both with and without disabilities were predominantly satisfied with school but the level of school satisfaction of students with disabilities related to their academic achievement, especially in mathematics. The provision of classroom assessment adjustments bridged the gap between the academic achievement and academic wellbeing of students with disabilities to be comparable to their peers without disabilities, especially in mathematics.

Overall, this research sheds light on how access to classroom assessment adjustments enables students with disabilities to undertake assessment tasks on the same basis as students without disabilities, which may, in turn, improve their academic achievement outcomes and academic wellbeing.