Examining the Link between Hong Kong Teachers’ and Students’ Formative Assessment Practices: A Multilevel Mediation Analysis

• In Event: Assessment to Support Learning Across Borders and Systems of Education: Examining Enactment at Scale

Abstract

Purpose and perspective
Assessment reform in Hong Kong aims to change assessment culture by emphasising FA and students' active role in the assessment process to build productive connections between assessment and learning (Curriculum Development Council [CDC], 2002; 2009; 2014; 2017). While teachers in Hong Kong may have every intention to conduct FA in classrooms, the implementation has been unsatisfactory (Authors, Year; Authors, Year; Lam, 2016). Current FA activities are dominated by teachers without an active role for students, which hinders students' use of feedback (Authors, Year; Smith et al., 2013). In the more recent curriculum guides for primary (CDC, 2014) and secondary education (CDC, 2017), schools are encouraged to adopt student-initiated FA, in addition to teacher-directed FA, to foster students’ independent learning capabilities.

This study examined the influence of teacher-directed FA practices and attitudes on student-initiated FA practices, mediated by students’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards FA. In line with previous studies (Authors, Year; Wiliam & Thompson, 2008), teacher-directed FA refers to clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success, implementing assessment activities to check learning progress, and providing feedback, and student-initiated FA refers to self-assessment and peer assessment.

Methods and Results
The dataset consists of 230 students nested within 14 teachers—an average of 16.43 students per class. The data were analyzed using a 2-1-1 multilevel mediation model (Preacher et al., 2010). All analyses were conducted using Mplus version 8.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 2017). The within-level analysis explored the direct effects of students’ efficacy and instrumental attitude on their FA practices, controlling for grade, gender, and subject area. The between-level analysis assessed the influence of teachers’ FA practices and attitudes on students’ FA efficacy, attitudes, and practices. Additionally, this analysis explored how students’ efficacy and attitudes towards FA serve as mediators in the relationship between teachers’ FA practices and attitudes and students’ FA practices, on both individual and classroom levels. Results of multilevel mediation analyses yielded a good fit to the data (χ2[6] = 11.566, CFI = 0.979, TLI = 0.927, RMSEA = 0.064, SRMRwithin = 0.066, SRMRbetween = 0.037). The 2-1-1 multilevel mediation results are presented in Figure 1.

Furthermore, the mediating effects of students’ efficacy and attitudes were not significant, suggesting that the impact of teachers’ practices and attitudes directly influences students’ FA engagement.

Significance
This study highlights the critical role of teacher-directed FA in promoting student-initiated FA in the Hong Kong context. To accomplish the objective of assessment reform, which aims to encourage greater student-initiated FA, teachers should focus on two essential aspects. Firstly, they should provide regular and high-quality teacher-directed FA. Secondly, they should foster students' self-efficacy in engaging with student-initiated FA.

Authors

• Zi Yan, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Norman B. Mendoza, The Education University of Hong Kong