Research project This project is part of a combined school development and research project that includes extensive teacher professional development in formative assessment. The project examines both the effects of the professional development on the participating teachers' formative assessment practices in the classroom and the effects of the changed classroom practices on students' motivation and performance in mathematics.
Professor Gavin Brown, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Formative assessment is a classroom practice that uses assessment to identify students’ learning needs and adapt teaching and learning to meet these needs. Research has shown that formative assessment can have significant positive effects on both student achievement and motivation. However, almost all previous studies have examined the effects of individual aspects of formative assessment. The effects on student achievement and motivation of formative assessment practices that combine these aspects to exploit the full potential of formative assessment are still unknown.
To achieve positive effects from formative assessment on student achievement and motivation, teachers need support to develop formative assessment practices of sufficient quality. However, although there is a consensus on the characteristics of teacher professional development programs (PDPs) that are important for teachers’ ability to use the PDP to develop their teaching, these developments cannot be predicted using these characteristics. Therefore, proposals have been made to more clearly link research design and professional development models to theories of learning and motivation, but studies based on motivational theories to explain the effects of PDPs on teachers' development of formative assessment practices are still lacking.
In this study, we will conduct a 2.5-year teacher professional development program in such formative assessment that can be characterized as an integrated unit of its various aspects, and investigate the following research questions:
1: In what ways do teachers' formative assessment practices develop between the beginning and the end of the PDP, and how can the development of these practices be explained?
2: Do the implemented formative assessment practices have an effect on students' achievement in mathematics?
3: Do the implemented formative assessment practices have an effect on students' type of motivation and engagement in learning activities, and how can these effects be explained?
Data will be collected using classroom observations, interviews, questionnaires, and tests of students' knowledge and skills in mathematics (pre- and post-measurements). Control groups and both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used in the analysis of the data.
