Formative assessment has been shown to have the power to positively affect student achievement, but professional-development initiatives for teachers to substantially develop their formative assessment practices have been frequently unsuccessful. In this study, a random selection of Year-7 teachers participated in a professional-development…

Research has identified characteristics of professional development programmes (PDPs) that are important for accomplishing change in teachers' practice and student achievement. However, these characteristics do not predict and guarantee the outcomes of a specific PDP. In the present study the authors investigated whether the expectancy-value…

Formative assessment has been shown to have the potential to significantly enhance student achievement, but a strong research base about how to support teachers to implement such a practice is lacking. This is particularly so for a conceptualisation of formative assessment as a unity of integrated formative assessment strategies. The aim of this…

We present quantitative results from the pilot-year of a large scale Swedish educational project in reading development called LegiLexi, inspired by research within the response to intervention and formative assessment traditions. The vision of the project is that every pupil should reach adequate reading skills at the end of grade 3 in primary…

It has been a year since Sarah and Brian traveled to Malmo, Sweden, as part of a fellowship through their U.S. teacher preparation program. Their experience was unique and life changing, not only because it occurred in another country but because they completed their student teaching in a paired format. They planned and implemented all of their…

This study reports on a large-scale implementation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in a Swedish municipality. The implementation was founded on two principles: (1) teaching should be informed by educational research; (2) to be successful teachers' professional development needs to be based in everyday classroom practice. From these principles,…

This report sheds light on the use of contract teachers with a particular focus on Cambodia, Nicaragua and India--countries that have all relied on contract teachers at some point. The report documents the use of contract teachers in Cambodia, Nicaragua and India and outlines the experience of contract teachers in West Africa. It also discusses…