Conceptualising fairness in classroom assessment: exploring the value of organisational justice theory

Abstract

Fairness has recently moved into the spotlight as a core foundation of classroom assessment (CA). However, despite its significance for high quality CA, fairness definitions and theories have been limited in the literature. Driven by the critiques directed at the 'inadequacy' and 'fuzziness' around CA fairness and recommendations to conceptualize fairness particularly for CA contexts, this paper aims to provide an explicit definition of CA fairness. Specifically, this paper brings together current scholarship in organizational justice theory and recent findings from the CA fairness literature to offer a more thorough conceptualization. This conceptualization not only presents a distinction between justice and fairness, but also provides a novel discussion of the relationship between justice and fairness with consideration for potential effects on students' learning. The paper concludes with an agenda for further research on CA fairness.

Students’ critical incidents of fairness in classroom assessment: an empirical study

“…Procedural justice principles (i.e., accuracy, consistency, bias suppression, correctability, ethicality, voice, transparency, and reasonableness) were benchmarks whereby students judged the un/fairness of procedures for outcome distributions. Interactional justice principles (respect, caring, adequate, truthful, and justified information, and timeliness) were benchmarks according to which students judged the un/fairness of interpersonal behavior and communication of information (Colquitt, 2001;Greenberg, 2011;Rasooli et al, 2019).…”

“…Chory-Assad, 2002;Holmgren and Bolkan, 2014). While there is some evidence to show the prevalence of these principles across legal, organizational, and health contexts (Colquitt, 2001;Siegrist, 2015), theoretical studies have argued the need to empirically and qualitatively explore fairness using these principles in instructional and assessment contexts (Grace, 2017;Kazemi, 2016;Rasooli et al, 2019;Resh and Sabbagh, 2016;Sabbagh and Resh, 2016).…”

“…Researchers have recently defined and conceptualized fairness in classroom assessment (CA) contexts using a social psychology theory of justice, arguing that this theory can account for fairness conceptions of all students (Grace, 2017;Rasooli, Zandi, and DeLuca, 2019). This conceptualization is typically characterized by three main questions: (a) what are the antecedents of students' un/fairness perception?…”

“…; and (c) what psychological and social consequences proceed from students' un/fairness perception? (Rasooli et al, 2019;Resh and Sabbagh, 2016). Underpinning these questions are core principles related to three dimensions of social psychology of justice (i.e., distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice) that also bring about affective and behavioral reactions for students.…”

“…The purpose of this study is to further extend social psychology theory of justice into CA literature to conceptualize a fairness theory for CA contexts. Specifically, this study aims to explore Iranian students' conceptualizations and critical incidents of CA fairness through a social psychology theory to provide an initial empirical foundation for a multidimensional conceptualization of CA fairness (Rasooli et al, 2019). This study is guided by the following research questions:…”