Overestimating the Academic Performance of Elementary School Students: Identifying Related Factors

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

1 M.A. in Educational Evaluation, Department of Methods, Educational Planning and Curriculum, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Methods, Educational Planning and Curriculum, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Objectives: Overestimation of students' academic performance is one of the most common biases and dangerous forms of pseudo-evaluation. This overestimation occurs when, for various reasons, teachers report students' assessment results as higher than their actual abilities. Such misreporting exacerbates the conditions for misjudging students' academic performance and poses serious risks to the quality of educational assessment systems. This study aims to explore the lived experiences of teachers and principals regarding the factors contributing to the phenomenon of overestimating academic performance assessments in elementary schools.
Materials and Methods: In pursuit of a comprehensive understanding of academic performance assessment overestimation, this qualitative phenomenological study employed a descriptive research approach to identify and explore the multifaceted dimensions of this educational phenomenon. The research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 24 participants, comprising 18 teachers and 6 administrators from primary schools in Kermanshah, strategically selected using criterion sampling. Data were systematically collected and analyzed utilizing Colaizzi's seven-stage analytical strategy, which enabled a rigorous and in-depth examination of participants' perspectives. To ensure methodological robustness and enhance research credibility, four additional interviews were conducted, which yielded no novel insights, and multiple validation techniques—including credibility, confirmability, dependability, and transferability—were meticulously applied. This comprehensive approach allowed for a nuanced exploration of the complex factors contributing to academic performance assessment overestimation, providing a rich, contextually grounded understanding of the underlying educational dynamics.
Discussion and Conclusions: The comprehensive interview analysis revealed a nuanced exploration of educational evaluation challenges, resulting in the systematic identification of 29 sub-themes strategically organized within seven primary thematic domains. These domains comprehensively encompass 1. Teacher-Related Factors (including individual errors, teacher mindset influenced by students' familial contexts, unprofessional inter-teacher competition, pressure resistance limitations, and superficial professional knowledge), 2. Implemented Curriculum-Related Factors (addressing evaluation method misalignments and pedagogical process quality deficiencies), 3.School Principal-Related Factors (examining administrative practices of teacher motivation and supervision), 4. School-Related Factors (investigating institutional competitive dynamics and resource constraints), 5.Societal Factor (analyzing broader social pressures emphasizing results over learning processes), 6.Ministry Planning and Policy-Related Factors (highlighting systemic planning weaknesses and administrative performance metrics), and 7.Exam-Related Factors (critically examining assessment design, scoring transparency, and evaluation methodological integrity). This multi-dimensional analysis provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the complex interconnected challenges within the educational evaluation ecosystem, offering profound insights into the systemic limitations and potential improvement pathways. The findings showed that the educational evaluation system in the elementary school is faced with many and dangerous problems in assessing the performance of students, especially in the valid and reliable estimation of the quality of academic performance. It is an overestimation of the broadest and most obvious bitter and thought-provoking realities that have passed the level of problem and entered the circle of dilemma and crisis, and it is necessary to immediately resolve wide-ranging risks and create intelligent groundwork to reduce its consequences and improve the existing situation by creating conditions and the requirements needed in the design and implementation of a dynamic, integrated and authentic learning assessment system that fits the context of our country as the most important strategic principle that has not been taken into account in the method of assessment known as descriptive assessment, fundamental revisions at the macro level and implementation of the program. It is evident that unwarranted insistence on the harmful approach existing in the current evaluation system in primary schools—which has the least compatibility with the conditions, capabilities, and requirements of our country's schools—and being content with blaming teachers and using the worn-out phrase of inappropriate implementation by teachers to avoid acknowledging the strategic error of neglecting the creation of prerequisite conditions and primary requirements for the successful implementation of the so-called descriptive evaluation approach, can further expose the bitter, prevalent, and dangerous consequences of this crisis.

Keywords

References

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