On the Fidelity of Implementing Embedded Formative Assessments and Its Relation to Student Learning

Abstract

Abstract Given the current emphasis on conducting high-quality experimental studies, it is becoming increasingly important for researchers to accompany their studies with evaluations of the fidelity of implementation of the experimental treatments. This article compares the form and extent of an experimental treatment to student learning. The study involved six middle-school physical science teachers and their students. Videotaped lessons were coded according to their alignment with the treatment's intended structure and processes; results identified a 0.71 correlation between teachers' enactment of formative assessment and student learning. The article suggests that the results of the study may have been due, at least in part, to the failure of many of the experimental-group teachers to implement the treatment as intended. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF/Award ESI-0095520) and, in part, by the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Testing (CRESST/Award 0070 G CC908-A-10). Notes 1Order of authors at this point is alphabetical. 1We acknowledge that this approach has been used in studying curricula rather than treatments, but we believe the strategy equally applies to the study of treatments. 2Because the estimates of timing are based on the videotapes submitted by teachers, we acknowledge that, beyond videotape we know was lost due to poor audio quality, these figures may be an underestimate of the time teachers spent.