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Research shows that substantial learning gains are possible through the use of formative assessment. However, little is known about Swedish mathematics teachers’ use of formative assessment, and thus about the possible value of professional development programmes. This study uses teacher interviews and classroom observations to examine the classroom practice of 38 randomly selected primary and secondary school teachers in a mid-sized Swedish municipality. A framework of formative assessment comprising one big idea and five Key strategies structured the analysis. The study identifies characteristics of current formative assessment practices. The results show that the teachers do use a variety of formative assessment activities, but also that there is much room for development towards a more effective formative classroom practice. 

Formative assessment has been shown to have the power to positively affect student achievement, but support for teachers to substantially develop their formative classroom practices have been frequently unsuccessful. In this study, a random selection of year-7 teachers participated in a professional development programme (PDP) in formative assessment. The PDP was designed in accordance with many of the characteristics known to be important for teachers’ possibilities to develop their practice. Classroom observations, questionnaires and interviews are used to investigate the changes made in the teachers’ classroom practices after the PDP, and the conditions and barriers they perceived to have been important in their endeavours to developing a formative classroom practice. The results show how all teachers developed their practice, but to different degrees, and that a majority of the implemented activities focus on the teacher as the responsible agent for the formative assessment process. The teachers were satisfied with most of the conditions provided during the PDP, but experienced barriers for change from the teaching conditions at their schools after the PDP. A comparison is made with a parallel PDP for year-4 teachers that resulted in large teacher changes and significant effects on student achievement.

Research has identified characteristics of professional development programmes (PDPs) which are successful inchanging teachers practice and improving student achievement. However, these characteristics do not predict and guarantee the outcomes of a specific PDP. Through teacher interviews and questionnaires, we investigated why randomly selected teachers in schoolyear-7, after participating in a PDP on formative assessment, changed their practice in ways identified in an earlier study and why these changes differed from those of teachers in schoolyear-4 participating in a similar PDP. The results show that the teachers’ motivational beliefs held after the PDP is an explanatory factor for their changes in practice. We discuss how differences in these beliefs may have developed by connecting characteristics of the teachers, the school, and the PDP to the mechanisms of change identified in a model of teacher growth.

Research has shown that formative assessment can enhance student learning. However, there is a great variety in how formative assessment is conceptualized and implemented, and in the size of the effects found on student achievement. A need has been identified for experimental studies both carefully describing the characteristics of the implemented formative assessment practice and its impact on student achievement. This study examines the effects on student achievement of the changes in a random sample of 14 secondary school mathematics teachers’ formative classroom practice that followed a professional development input. The practices were described, and student achievement were measured with pre-tests and post-tests. Results show that there were no significant differences in learning gains between the classes in the intervention group and the control group. The results also show no significant correlation between the number of formative assessment activities implemented by the teachers and the change in students’ achievement