The impact of a teacher professional development program in formative assessment on teachers’ practice

http://www.diva-portal.org

Postprint

This is the accepted version of a paper presented at CERME 8, 5th- 10thFebruary 2013, Antalya,

Turkey.

Citation for the original published paper: Andersson, C., Vingsle, C., Palm, T. (2013)

The impact of a teacher professional development program in formative assessment on teachers’ practice.

In:

N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper.

Permanent link to this version:

Introduction and aim

Several studies have demonstrated that substantial learning gains are possible when teachers introduce formative assessment into

their classroom practice (e.g. Black & Wiliam, 1998; Hattie, 2009). However a strong research base supporting how to effectively help teachers implement a formative assessment practice is lacking

(Schneider & Randel, 2010; Wiliam, 2010). The overall aim of this research study is to contribute to the understanding of which factors that are significant in the support of implementation of effective

formative assessment. Another aim is to evaluate to what extent the professional development program (PDP) can be used to help

teachers develop their formative assessment practice and enhance student performance.

Methods

22 randomly selected teachers teaching grade 4 took part in this PDP in Spring 2011, and constitute the intervention

group. The rest of the teachers teaching the same grade in the municipality constitute the control group of 27 teachers.

To investigate change in teachers’ practice (due to PDP), each teacher was interviewed and their classroom practice was

unannounced observed before the PDP and during the school year after the PDP. In addition, the teachers answered two

evaluation questionnaires, one directly after the PDP and one a year after.

Increase in student achievement in mathematics was measured by using a pre-test (August 2011) and a post-test (spring 2012). These tests measured ordinary curriculum knowledge of

mathematics for the grade. Teachers external to the project marked the tests.

Preliminary Main Results

vThe PDP had effect on the classroom practices.

vStudent achievement increased more in the intervention group than the control group. The effect size measured in Cohen’s d was 0.8 which is considered a large effect.

vThe teachers experienced effectiveness in their teaching when assessment information was used to form the teaching to better meet students’ learning needs.

vIn the professional development program significant factors that support teacher change included expert duration of time, possibility to try out techniques and together with the other

teachers share experiences and overcome setbacks. This trying and sharing, create mutual expectation between the participants to be active in classroom between the meetings.

Further Research

Classes from the intervention group will be studied further from a student perspective.

Umeå Mathematics Education Research Centre (UMERC) Umeå University, Sweden

The impact of a teacher professional development program in

formative assessment on teachers’ practice

Catarina Andersson, Charlotta Vingsle and Torulf Palm

The framework of Formative Assessment

This research project uses a framework of formative assessment in the design of a PDP for mathematics teachers and analysis of teachers’ practices.

Effective formative assessment can be conceptualized as practice based on an adherence to the ”big idea” of using evidence about student learning to adjust instruction to better meet student needs, and a competent use of the following five key strategies (Wiliam & Thompson, 2007):

1. clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions and criteria for success

2. engineering effective classroom discussions, questions, and tasks that elicit evidence of learning.

3. providing feedback that moves learners forward

4. activating students as the owners of their own learning

5. activating students as instructional resources for one another.

The Professional Development Program

The professional development program (PDP) was developed in a partnership between Umeå university and a municipality. It offered theory about formative assessment, techniques to use and time for discussion. During the meetings the teachers together planned the implementation, shared experiences and discussed opportunities to develop their formative practices. The teachers had 120 hours at

the University with the research project leader and the other

teachers during spring 2011. The teachers had the same amount of time to individually read and plan how to make use of techniques in their classroom practice.

Where am I going? Where to next? How am I going? References:

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and Classroom Learning. Assessment in education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7-74. Doi: 10.1080/0969595980050102 Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London: Routledge.

Schneider, M.C. & Randel, B. (2010). Research on characteristics of effective professional development programs for enhancing educator’ skills in formative assessment. In H.L. Andrade & G.J. Cizek (Eds.), Handbook of formative assessment (pp. 251-276). New York, NY: Routledge

Wiliam, D. (2010). An integrative summary of the research literature and implications for a new theory of formative assessment. In H.L. Andrade & G.J. Cizek (Eds.), Handbook of formative assessment (pp. 18-40). New York, NY: Routledge.

Wiliam, D., & Thompson, M. (2007). Integrating assessment with instruction: What will it take to make it work? In C. A. Dwyer (Ed.), The future of assessment: Shaping teaching and learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Contact information: Catarina Andersson and Lotta Vingsle, Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, SWEDEN