Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Heather K. Pederson

Abstract

District leaders in a suburban New England middle school expect that teachers will use technology to administer formative assessments and use the resulting feedback to plan subsequent instruction, but it is often unclear how or if feedback is being used to do so. Anytown Middle School (a pseudonym) teachers inconsistently use digital tools for formative assessment and feedback. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how teachers perceive the use of digital tools to facilitate formative assessment and use the resulting feedback to inform subsequent instruction. Guided by the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) conceptual framework, the research questions focused on understanding how teachers integrate digital tools to facilitate formative assessment and use feedback. Eight classroom teachers, who indicated in a prestudy survey that they used technology for formative assessment and feedback, were purposefully selected to provide study data via interviews and lesson plans. The study results indicated inconsistent demonstration of technological content knowledge (TCK) and TPACK by teachers when integrating digital tools to facilitate formative assessment and an inability to articulate how digital feedback informs subsequent instruction. A 3-day professional development opportunity was crafted to assist district leaders in addressing the inconsistent teaching practices illuminated by the study. The project and study findings may contribute to positive social change by providing teachers with specific strategies to improve TCK, TPACK, and planning practices, leading to effective digital formative assessment and feedback, which has been shown to have a positive influence on student achievement and in preparing students for 21st and 22nd century learning as well as a rapidly evolving global society.

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