This paper focuses on the importance of identifying students' Prior Knowledge (PK) for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Specifically, we present a framework that exemplifies the core elements teachers need to consider in relation to the purpose, design and implementation of learning experiences that enable PK to be activated and assessed.…

In this "Perspective on Practice," we describe an application of recommendations made in "Formative Assessment in Secondary ­Mathematics: Moving Theory to Recommendations for Evidence-Based Practice" (Kenney et al., 2022), which was recently published in this journal. The authors made recommendations for mathematics teacher…

In this paper we argue that the complexity of education systems can lead to a lack of coherence in the implementation of policy. More effective educational change requires policymakers and researchers to pay more attention to supporting teachers in classrooms. As an example, we consider decades of research attempts in STEM education to implement…

This concluding essay offers a reflection on the set of the papers contained in this special issue of the Educational Assessment journal. In it the author situates formative assessment squarely in the realm of teachers' continuous professional learning and considers the essential nature of formative assessment as centering on three questions that…

Academic Literacies elucidates how undergraduate students with diverse skillsets can effectively engage with socially constructed and discipline-specific knowledge(s) "through" writing. Over the last two decades, language specialists and education researchers have developed a robust, student-focused epistemology. However, it remains…

Freedom to innovate in teaching and learning are essential to meaningful higher education. Universities' rhetorical commitments to freedom and innovation are ubiquitous and quite homogenous. Beneath the rhetoric, however, lie sharp divides between neo-liberal and Humboldtian approaches to innovation, course design, teaching and learning. This…

In "Formative Assessment in the Disciplines," Margaret Heritage and E. Caroline Wylie explore the interconnection of ambitious teaching, formative assessment, and disciplinary knowledge. The authors outline a framework to help teachers develop and extend their proficiency in enacting discipline-based formative assessment practices across…

Performance of engineering degree students often becomes an important concern for lectures. Using classical teaching methodologies in practical lectures may be behind the problem. The present work develops a couple of innovative student-response-system based methodologies designed to be implemented during engineering practical lessons in higher…

Learning Trajectories have the potential to be used as a tool to advance equity by explicitly connecting to anti-deficit framing and asset-based instruction. This plenary paper highlights research on three use cases for learning trajectories (LT) with an intentionality around promoting equity: 1) the use of LT based Lesson Study with vertical…

Differentiated instruction is a teaching philosophy and practice that deals with responding appropriately to student heterogeneity. In order to gain deep understanding of this complex concept, research methodology is challenged to use appropriate data collection and data analysis. The aim of this paper is to reflect on how system theory may be…

Policymakers and educators need to reimagine the American school experience in order to better improve student achievement. What's more, nearly half of all first-year college students require remediation in English, costing taxpayers roughly $1.3 billion. There are promising practices and research that rethink the school experience in order to…

The flipped classroom, based on constructivist theory, focuses on acquiring strengths within a discipline rather than knowledge transmission. While the process of flipping the classroom has been extensively explored, little discussion has followed concerning how to effectively evaluate student learning in this new teaching paradigm. The authors…

The University of Calgary transitioned to online teaching in March 2020. Subsequent months saw instructors working to overcome the personal, technological, and pedagogical challenges involved in this. Central to those discussions was the need to increase student engagement and develop effective assessment formats. Based on student feedback and…

This article analyses an assessment initiative known as the Basic Competency Assessment (BCA) in Hong Kong using Bernstein's performance and competence models of pedagogic practice. On the one hand, BCA is aligned with a competence model through its official projection as a low-stakes, student-focussed and formative assessment. However, an…

We discuss a distance teaching-learning approach, developed within two courses for prospective mathematics teachers, exploiting digital technologies to activate formative assessment practices. In particular, we analyse excerpts, from synchronous and asynchronous activities within the courses, to highlight the formative assessment processes that…