Locating Interim Assessments Within Teachers' Assessment Practice

Abstract

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 Wiliam, D. and Leahy, S. A theoretical foundation for formative assessment. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting. San Francisco, CA. April. [Google Scholar]) 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.