How Teachers use Formative Assessment Strategies during Teaching: Evidence from the Classroom

Abstract

Using lesson observations, the study reported in this article explores how two practising secondary mathematics teachers implemented formative assessment actions in their classroom teaching. The study also investigated whether teachers’ beliefs about teaching and assessment could be mapped onto their classroom practices. In particular, while the two teachers were implementing student portfolio assessment in their own Year 9 mathematics lessons, the classroom observations focused on how they utilised formative assessment actions such as clarifying and sharing learning criteria intentions and criteria for success; activating students as instructional resources; and, providing feedback that moves learners forward. The findings suggest that one of the teachers made better use of formative assessment or assessment for learning actions while the other showed an emerging understanding of such ideas. A holistic analysis of teachers’ actions point to possible links to their beliefs about teaching and assessment. These findings imply that some teachers may hold productive beliefs about teaching and assessment that support the use formative assessment actions more readily. Such productive beliefs provide a useful platform for enacting better assessments inside secondary classrooms, given that there is paucity of research that deals with how secondary teachers make use of formative assessments. The findings implicitly confirm that better use of formative assessment strategies tend to result in more interactive lessons.

The Adventure of Formative Assessment with Active Feedback in The Vocational Learning: The Empirical Effect for Increasing Students' Achievement

“…From these results, we can conclude that students have a very positive attitude towards the teacher and the class. This result is also in accordance with the results of previous studies which showed a significant difference in the use of formative tests in favour of the experimental group (Van der Kleij et al, 2018;Ismail & Tini, 2020;Lui & Andrade, 2022;Voinea, 2018;Evans et al, 2014;Dayal, 2021;Gezer et al, 2021;Alsubaiai, 2021).…”

Senior High School Mathematics Teachers’ Perceptions and Use of Continuous Assessment

“…Challenges related to the constraints in marking assessment tasks/activities and constructing assessment task/activities constituted the difficulty the majority (63.8%) of the teachers mentioned. These challenges appear to persist because previous studies in Ghana and elsewhere have highlighted similar challenges (Asare, 2020; Dayal, 2021; Karim, 2015). Some of the challenges could be attributed to the context of schooling.…”

“…The literature suggests that there is a link between teachers' perceptions and their use of continuous assessment (Dayal, 2021). This implies that the low perceptions of the majority of the Ghanaian SHS mathematics teachers indicate that they are not likely to use CA as the basis to collect data on students' learning to improve teaching and learning in mathematics classroom.…”

“…Teachers with productive beliefs about classroom assessment provide a better use of classroom assessment than those with unproductive beliefs (Dayal, 2021). It is against the background of the relationship between conceptions and classroom assessment practices that this study explored the relationship between teachers' perceptions and their continuous assessment practices.…”

Examining What Influences Mathematics Teachers' Implementation of Formative Assessment

“…In addition, according to Dayal (2021), the school administration lacks clear guidelines for the implementation of classroom assessments. This is demonstrated by the fact that, according to Van den Heuvel et al (2021), teachers who were inconsistent in recording assessments noted that they had the option of recording assessments after class or only when requested.…”