Matthew Riggan

Learning to Learn From Benchmark Assessment Data: How Teachers Analyze Results

Although interim assessments are currently promoted as a mechanism for improving teaching and student learning, we know little about how teachers use this data to modify instruction. This article presents findings from a larger study on teachers’ use of interim assessment information in elementary mathematics. We address the following questions: (a) How do the Philadelphia teachers in our sample analyze benchmark assessment results, (b) how do they plan instruction based on these results, and (c) what are their reported instructional responses to such results? To answer these questions, we interviewed all 3rd- and 5th-grade teachers in five average- and above-average-performing elementary schools three times during the 2006–07 school year. We found that although the teachers in our study used interim assessment results to gain information about students’ learning in mathematics, teachers did not use interim assessments to make sense of students’ conceptual understanding. Furthermore, teachers’ tendency to interpret student errors as procedural missteps was paralleled by a trend toward procedural instructional responses.

Locating Interim Assessments Within Teachers' Assessment Practice

Promising research on the teaching and learning impact of classroom-embedded formative assessment has spawned interest in a broader array of assessment tools and practices, including interim assessment. Although researchers have begun to explore the impact of interim assessments in the classroom, like other assessment tools and practices, they have been studied largely in isolation. Drawing on interview and classroom observation data for 32 teachers in two school districts, this article examines how teachers collect, interpret, and act on three types of assessment information: “short cycle” (Wiliam & Leahy, 2006) practices embedded within the flow of instruction, teacher-developed tools such as quizzes and homework assignments, and interim assessments. The article then describes the ways in which these types of assessment intersect within classroom practice and the degree to which teacher use of assessment tools or practices varies by type.