Embedding Formative Assessment in Classroom Practice

Motivation is a prerequisite for students’ learning, and formative assessment has been suggested as a possible way of supporting students’ motivation. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence corroborating the hypothesis of large effects from formative assessment interventions on students’ autonomous forms of motivation and motivation in terms of behavioral engagement in learning activities. In addition, formative assessment practices that do have an impact on students’ motivation may put additional requirements on teachers than more traditional teaching practices. Such requirements include decisions teachers need to make in classroom practice. The requirements on teachers’ decision-making in formative assessment practices that have a positive impact on students’ autonomous forms of motivation and behavioral engagement have not been investigated. This study describes one teacher’s formative assessment practice during a sociology course in upper secondary school, and it identifies the requirements for the teacher’s decision-making. The teacher had participated in a professional development program about formative assessment just prior to this study. This study also investigated changes in the students’ motivation when the teacher implemented the formative assessment practice. The teacher’s practice was examined through observations, weekly teacher logs, the teacher’s teaching descriptions, and an interview with the teacher. Data on changes in the students’ type of motivation and engagement were collected in the teacher’s class and in five comparison classes through a questionnaire administered in the beginning and the end of the course. The students responded to the questionnaire items by choosing the extent to which they agreed with the statements on a scale from 1–7. The teacher’s formative assessment practice focused on collecting information about the students’ knowledge and skills and then using this information to make decisions about subsequent instruction. Several types of decisions, and the knowledge and skills required to make them that exceed those required in more traditional teaching practices, were identified. The students’ in the intervention teacher’s class increased their controlled and autonomous forms of motivation as well as their engagement in learning activities more than the students in the comparison classes.

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Using Learning Trajectories to Enhance Formative Assessment

Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School ◽

10.5951/mathteacmiddscho.22.6.0368 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 368-372

Author(s):

Caroline B. Ebby ◽

Marjorie Petit

Keyword(s):

Formative Assessment ◽

Student Learning ◽

Classroom Practice ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Student Thinking ◽

Learning Trajectories ◽

Making Sense ◽

Interpretive Process ◽

Improve Student Learning ◽

Enhance Student Learning

Numerous research studies have shown that formative assessment is a classroom practice that when carried out effectively can improve student learning (Black and Wiliam 1998). Formative assessment is not just giving tests and quizzes more frequently. When assessment is truly formative, the evidence that is generated is interpreted by the teacher and the student and then used to make adjustments in the teaching and learning process. In other words, the formative assessment generates feedback, and that feedback is used to enhance student learning. Formative assessment is therefore fundamentally an interpretive process: It is less about the structure, format, or timing of the assessment and more about the function and use by both the teacher and student (Wiliam 2011). For teachers of mathematics, the heart of this process is making sense of and understanding student thinking in relation to content goals.

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The impact of formative assessment on student achievement: A study of the effects of changes to classroom practice after a comprehensive professional development programme

Learning and Instruction ◽

10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.12.006 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 49 ◽

pp. 92-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Catarina Andersson ◽

Torulf Palm

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Student Achievement ◽

Formative Assessment ◽

Classroom Practice ◽

Development Programme ◽

Professional Development Programme ◽

The Impact

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L’analyse réflexive au service de l’émancipation : Construire des compétences et se construire

Voix Plurielles ◽

10.26522/vp.v12i1.1190 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 272-282

Author(s):

Valérie Soubre

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Formative Assessment ◽

Language Learning ◽

Classroom Practice ◽

Self Assessment ◽

Learning And Teaching ◽

Depth Analysis

Cet article se base sur un travail de réflexion autour de l’évaluation formative dans le cadre de l’enseignement apprentissage du français langue étrangère dans des centres universitaires en France. Il s’appuie sur une analyse des pratiques de classe se réclamant de l’évaluation formative et visant l’autonomisation et l’émancipation de l’apprenant. Self-assessment experiment is aimed at developing self reliant and self motivated learners. Abstract: This article is based on a reflexion over formative assessment in the field of language learning and teaching, especially in French as a foreign language taught in French university institutes. It provides an in-depth analysis of classroom practice whose self-assessment experiment is aimed at developing self reliant and self motivated learners.

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Formative assessment and feedback in the primary classroom: An interplay between teachers' beliefs and practices

10.26686/wgtn.17006677.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Prema Shoba Perumanathan

Keyword(s):

Formative Assessment ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Classroom Practice ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Formative Feedback ◽

Learning And Development ◽

Beliefs And Practices ◽

Collegial Support ◽

Teachers Beliefs ◽

Feedback Strategies

<p>This study explores the interplay between teachers’ beliefs and practices in understanding and implementing formative assessment and feedback to enhance student learning. Particularly, it explores teachers’ conceptions of effective formative feedback strategies, and the role they should play in their classroom practice. The context for this investigation was writing lessons in three primary classrooms, and included examination of three cases of primary teachers in the greater Wellington Region, New Zealand. Sadler’s (1989) theory of effective formative assessment and feedback provided the theoretical framework informing both data collection method and the analysis of data. Analysis of classroom observations, teaching documents and field notes revealed that teachers have adopted many strategies associated with good feedback practice. It was revealed, however, that the influence of teachers’ beliefs in the implementation and enactment of formative feedback and the interplay of their beliefs and practices affected their practices. These teachers’ conception and beliefs on how formative feedback should be practiced varied, as did their assumptions about their students’ abilities. These inconsistencies were further influenced by a range of contextual factors, including the diversity of students’ needs, differing collegial support, the structure of school writing programmes, teachers’ limited professional development and/or learning about formative assessment and feedback, and teachers’ learning having been undertaken in an era that favoured behaviourist practices. This research revealed the need for the provision of ongoing professional learning and development in writing instructions and formative assessment and feedback strategies. This would address the apparent inconsistencies between teachers’ conceptions and beliefs regarding effective formative assessment and feedback and their practices. As a result, this would help to promote Sadler’s (1989) formative assessment and feedback strategies to achieve more effective classroom teaching and learning practice. Implications for teachers, schools and professional learning and development are outlined and suggestions for further research included.</p>

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Science Teachers’ Representations of Classroom Practice in the Process of Formative Assessment Design

Journal of Science Teacher Education ◽

10.1007/s10972-016-9482-3 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 27 (7) ◽

pp. 697-716 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sara C. Heredia ◽

Erin Marie Furtak ◽

Deb Morrison ◽

Ian Parker Renga

Keyword(s):

Formative Assessment ◽

Science Teachers ◽

Classroom Practice ◽

Assessment Design

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Formative assessment and feedback in the primary classroom: An interplay between teachers' beliefs and practices

10.26686/wgtn.17006677 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Prema Shoba Perumanathan

Keyword(s):

Formative Assessment ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Classroom Practice ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Formative Feedback ◽

Learning And Development ◽

Beliefs And Practices ◽

Collegial Support ◽

Teachers Beliefs ◽

Feedback Strategies

<p>This study explores the interplay between teachers’ beliefs and practices in understanding and implementing formative assessment and feedback to enhance student learning. Particularly, it explores teachers’ conceptions of effective formative feedback strategies, and the role they should play in their classroom practice. The context for this investigation was writing lessons in three primary classrooms, and included examination of three cases of primary teachers in the greater Wellington Region, New Zealand. Sadler’s (1989) theory of effective formative assessment and feedback provided the theoretical framework informing both data collection method and the analysis of data. Analysis of classroom observations, teaching documents and field notes revealed that teachers have adopted many strategies associated with good feedback practice. It was revealed, however, that the influence of teachers’ beliefs in the implementation and enactment of formative feedback and the interplay of their beliefs and practices affected their practices. These teachers’ conception and beliefs on how formative feedback should be practiced varied, as did their assumptions about their students’ abilities. These inconsistencies were further influenced by a range of contextual factors, including the diversity of students’ needs, differing collegial support, the structure of school writing programmes, teachers’ limited professional development and/or learning about formative assessment and feedback, and teachers’ learning having been undertaken in an era that favoured behaviourist practices. This research revealed the need for the provision of ongoing professional learning and development in writing instructions and formative assessment and feedback strategies. This would address the apparent inconsistencies between teachers’ conceptions and beliefs regarding effective formative assessment and feedback and their practices. As a result, this would help to promote Sadler’s (1989) formative assessment and feedback strategies to achieve more effective classroom teaching and learning practice. Implications for teachers, schools and professional learning and development are outlined and suggestions for further research included.</p>

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