Formative Assessment Practices in High School Classrooms - Experiences of a High School Teacher Teaching Engineering Design Curriculum.

This work-in-progress research explores the practice of formative assessments (FA) in the form of informal FA conversations by a high school teacher teaching engineering design curriculum in an all-girls high school in the US southwest. An observation protocol informed by the Eliciting, Students' response, Recognition, and Use (ESRU) model and Formative Assessment Cycle was developed and testing to capture informal FA practices in an authentic setting using classroom observations. The teacher observed in this study had no explicit awareness that her practices were being observed. Initial observations show a frequent utilization of informal FA practices associated with eliciting, recognizing, and using student responses to connect to learning goals in the form of FA conversations. These practices did not include clarifying expectations or sharing learning goals. Initial observations also show that the teacher frequently uses these practices to introduce new topics instead of starting such engagements to assess concepts that have already been delivered. Implications and future directions will focus on understanding how these inquisitive, informal FA practices can be used to deliver new concepts and improve student learning.