24 karat or fool's gold? An analysis of the impact of interim assessment data on classroom teacher instructional decisions
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Data-based decision-making has been a frequently used policy and practice intervention used in schools to help inform the decision-making processes of educational practitioners, with the aim of improving student outcomes. Interim benchmark assessments are designed by commercial test developers to support educators in this framework. In fact, the state of Michigan has legally mandated the use of interim benchmarks in public schools to accelerate learning as a result of COVID-19 pandemic-related school closures. However, while student assessment instruments are core tools of data-based decision-making, not all assessments are equally useful to educators, particularly classroom teachers. There is a lack of evidence that shows how teachers use data from interim benchmark assessments in their practice and if there are differences in perceptions of the usefulness of this data across the various assessment tools that exist in the market. This study seeks to explore teacher perceptions about the usefulness of the data interim benchmark assessments provide and how frequently teachers use this data in their educational decisions. Using survey data from classroom teachers, this study employs quantitative methods to provide descriptive statistics on the degree of usefulness of interim benchmark assessments and the frequency of teachers' use of these data in their educational decisions. Though this study is limited to teachers in Michigan, the results of the study have national implications for how policymakers can support classroom-level educational decisions through the use of assessment data.
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Ed. D.