Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Jenny Sabin

Abstract

A mixed methods design was utilized to examine teacher perceptions of formative assessments and its impact on student motivation. Teachers from 32 public schools in a southeastern school district were invited to participate in a formative assessment survey using a Likert scale to share their perceptions of their understanding and use of formative assessments in the classroom. The survey and interview items addressed teachers’ own self-efficacy values as they relate to their implementation of formative assessments and their relationship with motivating students to learn. Data analysis indicated most teachers had a strong understanding of formative assessments, but some of their responses showed they confused formative assessments with summative assessment measures. Although most of the participating teachers indicated they shared learning goals with their students, some of the data showed the learning goals were directly related to proficiency goals on state-mandated tests. Additionally, teachers who had established protocols for self-assessment practices in their classroom did not include one form of self-assessing with students actually grading their own work. Finally, even though half of the teachers interviewed stated formative assessment practices had the greatest impact on motivating their students to learn, the other half of the teachers contributed it to other factors. Based on the findings of the research study from the district data, recommendations, professional development needs, and ideas for future research needs were identified and shared in detail.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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