In the transition to middle school, and during the middle school years, students’ motivation for mathematics tends to decline from what it was during elementary school. Formative assessment strategies in mathematics can help support motivation by building confidence for challenging tasks. In this study, the authors developed and piloted a professional development program, Learning to Use Formative Assessment in Mathematics with the Assessment Work Sample Method (AWSM) to build middle school math teachers’ understanding of the characteristics of high-quality formative assessment processes and increases their ability to use them in their classrooms. AWSM proved to be feasible to implement in the middle school setting. It improved teachers’ practice of formative assessment, especially in their feedback practices, regardless of their pedagogical content knowledge at entry. Results from focus groups suggested that teachers were better able to implement ungraded practice and student selfand peer-assessment after AWSM, and that students were more willing to engage in complex problem solving.

中文翻译：

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加强形成性评估实践，鼓励中学数学参与和坚持

在向中学过渡的过程中，在中学阶段，学生对数学的积极性比小学时期有所下降。数学中的形成性评估策略可以通过建立对挑战性任务的信心来帮助支持动机。在这项研究中，作者开发并试点了一个专业发展计划，学习使用数学中的形成性评估和评估工作样本方法 (AWSM) 来建立中学数学教师对高质量形成性评估过程特征的理解，并提高他们在课堂上使用它们的能力。AWSM 被证明在中学环境中实施是可行的。它改进了教师的形成性评估实践，特别是在他们的反馈实践中，无论他们在入学时的教学内容知识如何。焦点小组的结果表明，在 AWSM 之后，教师能够更好地实施不分级练习和学生自我和同伴评估，并且学生更愿意参与解决复杂的问题。