Teachers' Use of Formative Assessment Data: Challenges and Opportunities

• In Event: Challenges and Successes in Early-Grades Mathematics Education in Low-Income Contexts

Abstract

In this presentation, we describe challenges teachers face in using assessment results to make instructional decisions, including issues related to teachers’ professional knowledge and practices, and organizational structures and behaviors. We describe potential opportunities to overcome these barriers including professional learning opportunities and efficient systemic features. Although we situate our discussion in the context of low-resource countries, similar problems exist in high-resource environments. As such, when applicable, we will make generalizations across contexts.
Minute-by-minute, teachers make instructional decisions that impact students’ learning opportunities. These decisions are most frequently guided by teachers’ professional judgment. However, teachers’ judgment about student proficiency often lacks content specificity and may be dependent upon their classroom assessment practices (Martinez, Stecher, & Borko, 2009). In low-resource contexts, many teachers have had limited professional training thereby further impacting their ability to make responsive judgments to support student learning. Recent attention has focused on the use of student performance data to provide objective and content-specific information to supplement teachers’ judgment. Using ongoing data collected through formative assessment practices is associated with improved student achievement in mathematics (Gersten et al., 2009).
Barriers to using assessment data include both teacher-level factors and systems-level factors. Teacher-level factors include knowledge and practices associated with the assessments themselves, but also teachers’ understanding of instructional design principles, theories of learning, and content-specific development. Systems-level factors include organizational structures and behaviors that may support or hinder teachers’ use of data including autonomy to make instructional decisions, time to interpret results, and access to resources. Overcoming these barriers requires attention at the systems-level to both teacher- and systems-level factors.
For this paper, we conducted a thorough review of the literature to identify teacher-level and systems-level factors that act as barriers to teachers’ use of assessment data to guide instructional decisions. Literature on systems-level supports was reviewed including evidence-based professional development practices and organizational behaviors. Research on factors affecting low-resource contexts was thoroughly reviewed including materials published by non-profit organizations.
The promise of formative assessments for improving student achievement lies with teachers’ interpretation and use of the results when designing their instruction. If barriers prevent teachers from meaningfully using these data, these goals will not be realized. Understanding the barriers to teachers’ use of data to guide instructional decisions is the first step toward improving systems. Based on our literature review, we describe the role of carefully designed professional learning opportunities in supporting teachers’ use of assessment data by targeting their professional knowledge and practice. We synthesize organizational structures and behaviors that support teachers’ assessment practices. These opportunities can be implemented in low- or high-resourced environments to support teachers’ use of data.

Authors

• Lindsey Perry, Southern Methodist University

• Leanne R. Ketterlin-Geller, Southern Methodist University