Formative assessment and the role of teachers' content area

Abstract

Professional development (PD) programs focused on increasing teachers' use of formative assessment generally provide a framework designed to help teachers understand the breadth and complexity of formative assessment, while advocating for teacher choice with respect to the specific implementation. This study examined the implementation patterns of 82 high school mathematics and science teachers to understand whether implementation approaches differed by content area. Results suggested that mathematics and science teachers significantly increased their self-reported practice of formative assessment, in similar ways; however, the specific approaches that mathematics and science teachers chose to operationalize on a daily basis differed. These findings have implications for the design of PD and future research efforts. K E Y W O R D Smath/math education, professional development, science/science education, teachers and teaching wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ssm