Using Formative Assessment and Metacognition to Improve Student Achievement

The academic readiness of incoming college students is a major concern. For example, Tritelli (2003) reports that fewer than half of the students who enter college directly from high school complete even a minimally defined college preparatory program, and, as a result, more than half of these entering students are required to take at least one developmental course. This lack of readiness is further reflected in the low level of success in completing the required sequence of developmental courses (Bailey, 2009; Hoyt & Sorenson, 2001 ; Levin & Calcagno, 2008). Consequently, it is not surprising that only 23% of entering community college students earn an associate degree after 6 years (Brock, 2010). A major stumbling block and gatekeeper area has been mathematics; therefore, this study illustrates the implementation and research of the EFAP-SRL model in developmental mathematics.As research on academic underpreparedness becomes more abundant, the situation becomes increasingly grim. A recent report from the American Diploma Project (Achieve, 2010) found that 81% of twelfth graders were rated as having below a basic level of performance in Algebra I, and 98% of twelfth graders needed preparation in Algebra II. This finding is in keeping with The Strong American Schools report (2008), which found that more than 40% of high school graduates entering two-year colleges require mathematics remediation at a cost of between 1.85 and 2.35 billion dollars annually. Lutzer, Rodi, Kirkman, and Maxwell (2007) found that developmental mathematics courses comprise over half of the mathematics course offerings at many two-yea: colleges. Furthermore, the Carnegie Foundatioi (2009) reported between 60% and 70% of develop mental mathematics students do not successfull complete the prescribed sequence of require« courses. Notably absent from efforts to improvi student success is the incorporation of formativi assessment to improve student self-regulation an« metacognitive skills.Formative Assessment: A Review of a Powerful InterventionIn a series of landmark review articles, Black an« Wiliam (1998a, 1998b, 2009) dramatically high lighted formative assessment's contribution tDefinitionThe common denominator in this work is tha effective formative assessment is an ongoing instructional process that systematically incor porates assessment, as opposed to calling for particular kind of assessment instrument or test Heritage (2010) makes this a central theme in hei report when she writes about the risk oflosing the promise of formative assessment for teaching and learning. The core problem lies in the false, but none-the-less widespread, assumption that formative assessment is a particular kind of measurement instrument rather than a process that is fundamental and indigenous to the practice of teaching and learning, (p.l)She also goes on to conclude that despite it; demonstrated effectiveness across a wide vari ety of disciplines, formative assessment has noi been effectively incorporated into college-level instruction.Feedback and Its Relationship to Formative AssessmentThe literature on formative assessment suggests that feedback is a key element in assisting the learning process for both instructors and students (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Simply put, instructors receive feedback from their classroom assessments and can use this information to make changes in their instructional practices and curricula designs. …