Improving classroom assessment in primary mathematics education

Abstract

The main goal of this PhD research was to provide insight into primary school teachers’ classroom assessment practice in mathematics in the Netherlands. Classroom assessment is assessment that teachers can use to get access to their students’ skills and understanding, in an effort to tailor their instruction to students’ needs and thus move learning forward. The common departure point of the studies in this thesis was that such use of classroom assessment integrated in teachers’ teaching practice to determine where students are in their development could lead to an improvement in students’ mathematics performance. Whether supporting teachers in the use of classroom assessment in mathematics education indeed had an incremental effect on students’ mathematics achievement was the main research question of this thesis. After establishing teachers’ current assessment practice in primary mathematics education through a large-scale survey study, a number of classroom assessment techniques for mathematics in Grade 3 (groep 5) were developed, piloted, and quasi-experimentally evaluated. Teachers and students reported that they liked the classroom assessment techniques and found them useful in daily practice. The quasi-experimental evaluation of learning effects on mathematics achievement showed that students of teachers using classroom assessment techniques progressed notably more from pre- to posttest than other students.