Conversations About Common Formative Assessment: An Analysis of a Teacher Learning Community

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Feedback and Formative Assessments

Abstract

Recent policy initiatives emphasize the importance of teachers collaboratively developing common formative assessment, but what kinds of conversations actually occur during this process, and how do they develop over time? In this paper, we analyze the conversations that occurred within a high school teacher learning community as the participants developed, enacted, and revised a set of common formative assessments about natural selection over two years. Our findings indicate that, when discussing their teaching practices, teachers relied more on generalizations rather than specific events. Early in the study, teachers primarily discussed content, whereas later they were able to increasingly focus on student thinking. Finally, the status of individuals affected the extent to which their ideas were incorporated into the common assessments.

Authors

• Erin Marie Furtak, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Sara C. Heredia, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Deb Morrison, University of Colorado - Boulder