In this article, we focus on the design of a second language (L2) formative feedback system that provides linguistic complexity graph reports on the writings of English for special purposes students at the university level. The system is evaluated in light of formative instruction features pointed out in the literature. The significance of…

The purpose of this study was to determine if teachers are currently providing screencast video feedback for students as a means of formative assessment while they develop digital content. If this approach was already in place, the benefits of the practice were explored to support existing research on the method. If they did not use the…

In this commentary, Mary James highlights two problems she deemed critical during her work exploring the relationships between assessment and learning in theory and practice. First, efforts to improve assessment for learning were not always successful either in improving performance or in other ways. Second, and this may be a reason for the first…

Thinking and learning are corresponding and interdependent processes in every classroom. To improve learning, teachers must be open to new ideas, particularly ideas that locate conditions for maximum learning. This paper presents four overlooked but critical ideas that identify a common area, a GAP experience within which maximum learning is…

This multi-case study explored how local policy actors in rural school districts interpreted new teacher evaluation policies and how state-level policy actors influenced local policy responses. In the first phase of the study, teachers and administrators in four rural school districts in two U.S. states were interviewed about new state teacher…

Prior learning provides the basis for new learning. Mathematics educators employ formative assessment to "elicit" and "use" student thinking as the foundation of their instruction. Yet, information can be elicited and used in a variety of ways, so not all formative assessment is equally "formative." This means that…

As colleges educate a more diverse and global student population, there is increased need to ensure every student succeeds regardless of their differences. This paper explores the relationship between equity and assessment, addressing the question: how consequential can assessment be to learning when assessment approaches may not be inclusive of…

The 2016-2017 academic year marks the second year of statewide implementation of the North Carolina K-3 Formative Assessment Process: Kindergarten Entry Assessment (FAPKEA). The assessment, developed and implemented by the Office of Early Learning (OEL) at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, is a comprehensive formative assessment…

This essay reports on a writing-based formative assessment of a university-wide initiative to enhance students' global learning. Our mixed (and unanticipated) results show the need for enhanced expertise in writing assessment as well as for sustained partnerships among diverse institutional stakeholders so that public programming--from events…

One of the main challenges higher educational institutions encounter amid the recent COVID-19 crisis is transferring assessment approaches from the traditional face-to-face form to the online Emergency Remote Teaching approach. A set of language assessment principles, practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback, which can be…

The following research reports on a collaborative effort between two university field supervisors for an elementary teacher preparation program in the Pacific southwest. Utilizing practitioner inquiry and situated learning as conceptual frameworks, the authors qualitatively examine the experiences ten elementary education teacher candidates have…

It has been argued that successful professional development efforts, especially in assessment-literacy, need to address emotional components and the existence of implicit conceptions in order to raise consciousness and ultimately transform practice (Xu and Brown, 2016: p. 156). Experiential approaches have been shown to be highly effective for…

Growing class sizes and the rapid advancement of information technology have prompted institutions to implement blended learning in their academic offering. There are few reports in the literature on a holistic assessment of the effectiveness of the instructional design of blended learning courses for large classes. We defined effectiveness from a…

The study analyses the scope and role of Bloom's Taxonomy (1956) in reforming teaching-learning practices in the classroom by employing a systematic balance of questions from both the lower and higher domains of learning in the summative assessment. Thus, this study analyses the annual question papers designed by the Boards of Intermediate and…

In this article, we use a two-dimensional assessment to examine the experimental impacts of a mathematics learning trajectory-oriented formative assessment program on student strategies for problems involving multiplication and division. Working from the theory that the development of students' multiplicative reasoning involves improvements in…