Teachers' and students' roles in formative assessment

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What gains did the students make and how were they measured?

The researchers analysed test data from 25 classes containing pupils who, with their teachers, were participating in formative assessment activities. By comparing the performance of each class with that of a similar class which had not undergone the intervention they sought to measure the effects of the intervention on students' academic achievement. Rather than introducing a new testing regime, the researchers used results from national tests at key stage 3, GCSE examinations and internal school examinations for their analysis. They found that:

in all but four classes there was a positive affect on attainment (overall mean effect size of 0.32);
the four classes showing negative effects were all mathematics classes; and
the greater the extent to which the teachers embedded their strategies into their practice the more consistent were the gains in attainment;

The researchers were very cautious in their claims about the effect of the intervention on attainment, not least because of the difficulty of ensuring robust comparisons. The most reliable form of comparison was between the attainment of the intervention class and that of a parallel class taught by the same teacher the previous year, but it was not always possible to achieve this. In a number of cases the researchers made comparisons with parallel classes taught by the same teacher in that year with the inherent risk that the teacher's involvement in the project spread to influence the comparison class as well. Overall the researchers predicted that improvements of the order of half a GCSE grade per subject are achievable.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction Who was involved and what did they do? What gains did the students make and how were they measured? What did teachers and students report? How can we make questioning more effective? What sort of marking and grading really helps students' learning? How did teachers involve students in peer- and self-assessment? How did teachers make formative use of summative testing? How did teachers' practice change and what challenges remain? What are the implications of this research for practitioners? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Teachers' and students' roles in formative assessment This digest found in Assessment for Learning Send to a friend Word doc 80KB Printer friendly Collate for later What gains did the students make and how were they measured? The researchers analysed test data from 25 classes containing pupils who, with their teachers, were participating in formative assessment activities. By comparing the performance of each class with that of a similar class which had not undergone the intervention they sought to measure the effects of the intervention on students' academic achievement. Rather than introducing a new testing regime, the researchers used results from national tests at key stage 3, GCSE examinations and internal school examinations for their analysis. They found that: in all but four classes there was a positive affect on attainment (overall mean effect size of 0.32); the four classes showing negative effects were all mathematics classes; and the greater the extent to which the teachers embedded their strategies into their practice the more consistent were the gains in attainment; The researchers were very cautious in their claims about the effect of the intervention on attainment, not least because of the difficulty of ensuring robust comparisons. The most reliable form of comparison was between the attainment of the intervention class and that of a parallel class taught by the same teacher the previous year, but it was not always possible to achieve this. In a number of cases the researchers made comparisons with parallel classes taught by the same teacher in that year with the inherent risk that the teacher's involvement in the project spread to influence the comparison class as well. Overall the researchers predicted that improvements of the order of half a GCSE grade per subject are achievable.