The Impact of Accountability on Student Performance in a Secondary Physical Education Badminton Unit

Authors

  • Jacalyn Lund
  • Jennifer Shanklin

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of accountability on the quality of student motor responses during a 10-day badminton unit with female high school students enrolled in a required physical education class. Students in the control class participated in the same learning activities taught by the same teacher as the treatment class. On day three, the teacher showed students in the treatment class the assessments that would be used to determine their grades. All students in the study improved as documented by an increase in skill performance with students in the treatment class having higher success rates than students in the control class. Results of this study demonstrate that if students are informed in advance about the skills which they will be held accountable for and are given adequate opportunity to practice those skills, both the quality and quantity of responses will improve. Additionally, this study found that students of all ability levels can improve when they are informed in advance about teacher expectations and then held accountable for meeting these.

Published

2011-12-15

Issue

Section

Articles