Using Assessments for Instructional Improvement: A Literature Review

Abstract

The current educational reform policy discourse takes for granted the central role of using data to improve instruction. Yet whether and how data inform instruction depends on teachers’ assessment practices, the data that are relevant and useful to them, the data they typically have access to, and their content and pedagogical knowledge. Moreover, when one considers teachers’ organizational contexts, it is clear that school leadership and support for using data, capacity-building strategies, and the norms of adult learning and collaboration circumscribe opportunities to examine relevant data and to improve instructional practice in response. This literature review examines teacher as well as organizational practices and characteristics as they pertain to formative uses of assessment. We identify opportunities for important research to illuminate how and under what conditions teachers and schools as organizations can use data to inform instruction.

Perbaikan Instruksional Dalam Implementasi Assessment-Based Learning Di Kelas Matematika

“…Hal ini sebagaimana temuan dari beberapa peneliti yang mengungkapkan bahwa penilaian yang terintegrasi dalam proses belajar mengajar dapat membantu siswa untuk meningkatkan belajarnya (Balan, 2010;) dan membantu guru untuk meningkatkan kegiatan instruksionalnya (Shepard, 2000a(Shepard, , 2000bYoung & Kim, 2010).…”

Using Data-Informed Instruction to Drive Education: Keeping Catholic Education a Viable and Educationally Sound Option in Challenging Times

“…Unfortunately, teachers are often at a loss as to how to effectively collect and utilize data as a driving force within their educational assessment and planning routines (Marshall, 2009;Young & Kim, 2010). This is true within Catholic schools, as well as in competing private, public, and charter institutions.…”

“…In a successful DII model, teachers must possess knowledge and specific skills related to: data analysis, data interpretation, and the use data to make instructional decisions. Researchers have shown that DII practices are often unfamiliar to teachers and are infrequent topics of focus within teacher training and professional development programs (Marshall, 2009;Young & Kim, 2010). Therefore, teachers often feel unprepared to use assessment effectively.…”

Computer-based feedback in formative assessment

“…At the student and class levels, assessment results are an important source of information about how learning processes could be improved for both students and teachers. Students need feedback to choose the most suitable learning strategies in order to achieve the intended learning outcomes, while teachers need data to act on the students' current points of struggle and to reflect on their own teaching practices (Young & Kim, 2010). Data can also be used at the school level for school development purposes, for example, to increase aggregated student achievement .…”

“…Moreover, it is not clear when, how, by whom, and for which purposes the evidence about student learning should be used in order to qualify as formative assessment. The many phases in the evaluative cycle that characterises educational measurement are often not fully or not correctly completed (Young & Kim, 2010). Interpreting evidence, making decisions, and subsequently acting on these decisions are distinct steps in the evaluative cycle.…”