Abstract
In many countries, assessment and curriculum reforms came into being in recent decades. In Iran, an important educational assessment reform took place called Descriptive Assessment (DA). In this reform, the focus of student assessment was moved from a more summative approach of providing grades and deciding about promotion to the next grade to a more formative approach of providing descriptive feedback aimed at improving student learning. In this study, we evaluated how seven fourth-grade mathematics teachers used the principles of DA. Data were collected by a questionnaire on assessment practices and beliefs, lesson observations, and interviews. Although the teachers varied in how they assess their students, in general their assessment practice is by and large in line with the DA guidelines. Nevertheless, in some respects we found differences. When assessing their students, the teachers essentially do not check the students’ strategies and when preparing the report cards, they still use final exams because they do not sufficiently trust the assessments methods suggested by DA. The guideline to use assessment results for adapting instruction is also not genuinely put into action. The article is concluded by discussing dilemmas the teachers may encounter when implementing DA.
Highlights
IntroductionAt the turn of the century, a general need arose to use assessment as a tool to support learning and improve teaching, and to place greater emphasis on the process by which teachers seek to identify and diagnose student learning difficulties in order to provide students with quality feedback to improve their achievement
Teachers ¶· ̧o reported that observing students while they are doing exercises provides very relevant information about their students’ mathematics skills and knowledge
To give an overview of the findings of the assessment practices of the seven teachers, Table A1 in the Appendix A shows what we found about the five key categories of the DA guidelines that we detected in the Teacher’s Guidance for Descriptive Assessment [46]
Summary
At the turn of the century, a general need arose to use assessment as a tool to support learning and improve teaching, and to place greater emphasis on the process by which teachers seek to identify and diagnose student learning difficulties in order to provide students with quality feedback to improve their achievement. Besides this call for assessment to promote successful learning, the pressure to reform assessment came from the demand for better data to inform educational decision-making and the necessity of assessing a broader range of skills than is possible with traditional assessment approaches [4]. The latter demand was largely related to the major turnaround regarding the what and how of teaching mathematics that took place around the 1990s
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
