No abstract

Formative assessment has been shown to have the potential to significantly enhance student achievement, but a strong research base about how to support teachers to implement such a practice is lacking. This is particularly so for a conceptualisation of formative assessment as a unity of integrated formative assessment strategies. The aim of this study is to investigate why the mathematics teachers who participated in a successful professional development programme in formative assessment developed their formative classroom practice to such an extent that it had a significant impact on student achievement. An analysis of data from teacher questionnaires and interviews shows that the teachers' actions can be explained by expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation. Characteristics of the professional development programme that the teachers experienced as important for their development of a formative classroom practice are identified, and the characteristics' affordances for the development of the teachers' expectancy and value beliefs are discussed.

An earlier study showed that the changes in teachers' classroom practice, after participation in a professional development program in formative assessment, significantly improved student achievement in mathematics. The teachers in that study were a random selection of Year 4 teachers in a Swedish mid-sized municipality. In the present study, we analyse and describe the characteristics of these changes in classroom practice, which were based on a combination of various strategies for formative assessment. Data were collected through teacher interviews and classroom observations. The teachers implemented many new activities that strengthened a formative classroom practice based on identifying student learning needs and modifying the teaching and learning accordingly. The characteristics of the changes the teachers made reveal the complexity of this formative assessment practice and why such developments of practice are likely to require major changes in most teachers' practices. We also discuss how such changes in practice afford new learning opportunities.

Behavioral engagement is a key determinant of students’ learning. Hence, knowledge about mechanisms affecting engagement is crucial for educators and stakeholders. Self-determination theory (SDT) offers a framework to understand one of these mechanisms. However, extant studies mostly consider only parts of SDT’s theoretical paths from basic psychological need satisfaction via regulations to student engagement. Studies that investigate the full model are rare, especially in mathematics, and results are inconclusive. Moreover, constructs are often merged in ways that may preclude detailed understanding. In this study, we used structural equation modeling to test several hypothesized paths between the individual variables that make up higher-order constructs of need satisfaction, regulations, and behavioral engagement. Satisfaction of the need for competence had a dominating effect on engagement, both directly and via identified regulation. Similarly, satisfaction of the need for relatedness predicted identified regulation, that in turn predicted engagement. Satisfaction of the need for autonomy predicted intrinsic regulation as expected but, in contrast to theory, was also positively associated with controlled motivation (external and introjected regulation). Neither intrinsic nor controlled regulation predicted engagement. Theoretical and method-related reasons for this unexpected pattern are discussed, as well as implications for research and teaching.

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.