Publications & Resources

The effects of POWERSOURCE© assessments on middle-school students’ math performance

Oct 2011

Julia C. Phelan, Kilchan Choi, David Niemi, Terry P. Vendlinski, Eva L. Baker and Joan Herman

This paper describes results from field testing of middle-school math formative assessments alongside professional development and instructional resources. We employed a randomised, controlled design to address the question: Does using our formative assessment strategies improve student performance on assessments of key mathematical ideas relative to a comparison group? This study also provided data on the instructional sensitivity of the assessments, which is part of the validation needed for formative assessments. Scores on extended response and short-answer questions indicated that students in the treatment group performed better than students in the comparison group who received the formative assessments alone. These findings demonstrate both the feasibility and value of including performance task-types in a brief assessment context.

Phelan, J. C., Choi, K., Niemi, D., Vendlinski, T. P., Baker, E. L., & Herman, J. (2012). The effects of POWERSOURCE© assessments on middle-school students’ math performance. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 19(2), 211-230. doi:10.1080/0969594X.2010.5327 69