Determining factors influencing middle school teachers in demonstrating test score inflation

Abstract

This study examines the determinants of test score inflation among middle school teachers within Türkiye’s exam-driven education system. Test score inflation -defined as increasing students’ scores beyond actual performance due to internal or external pressures- poses challenges for fairness, validity, and instructional integrity. To investigate its underlying factors, the researchers developed and validated the Test Score Inflation Scale following DeVellis’s (2012) framework. The 20-item, three-factor instrument (Avoidance of Pressure, Student Support, Fairness) demonstrated strong psychometric properties (α = .81–.89; ω = .97; KMO = .855). Data were collected from 507 teachers of Turkish, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies across public and private schools. Multivariate analyses (MANOVA, multiple regression) revealed significant effects of gender and school type: female teachers and those in private institutions exhibited higher inflation tendencies across all subscales. Conversely, seniority, postgraduate education, managerial role, and subject area showed no significant influence. Regression models indicated that individual (gender, school type) and contextual (physical and sociological characteristics of schools) factors jointly explained 38% of total variance (R² = .25-.31 across subscales). Findings suggest that inflation behaviors may reflect adaptive responses to institutional pressures rather than deliberate misconduct. The results underscore the need for policies that promote process-oriented assessment, ethical grading dialogue among teachers, and improved resource conditions that reduce pressure to inflate scores. Future research should validate the scale across contexts and employ longitudinal or mixed-method designs to explore how institutional dynamics and professional norms shape teachers’ assessment integrity.

Keywords

• Test score inflation
• Student achievement
• High-stake tests
• Grading behavior
• Score inflation

Ethical Statement

Ankara University, 22/12/2021-387.

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