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Misty Sato began her career in science education as a middle school teacher in Plainsboro, NJ and as an instructional team leader for earth and environmental sciences for the Merck Institute for Science Education in Rahway, NJ. After receiving her PhD from Stanford University in curriculum and teacher education, with a specialty in science education in 2002, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow and director of the National Board Resource Center at Stanford University. She developed and directed a regional professional development program for practicing teachers pursuing National Board Certification in the San Francisco Bay area and led a four year longitudinal study of the impact of National Board Certification in teachers' classroom assessment practices. Currently, she is an assistant professor of teacher development and science education at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. In her research, she collaborates with practicing teachers to systematically study their practice and make that professional experience accessible to beginning teachers. In 2007, she was awarded the Kappa Delta Pi/AERA Division K Early Career Research Award and in 2008, she was awarded the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development Women's Philanthropic Leadership Circle Rising Star Award . Recent publications have appeared in the American Education Research Journal, Educational Leadership, and The New Educator.
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Project Summary
Considerable research shows that student learning is improved when teachers use formative assessment strategies in their teaching (e.g., Black & Wiliam, 1998). But studies also show that despite the value of formative assessment, most teachers do not really know how to teach with a mindset and strategies of formative assessment. To find better ways to help teachers understand the power of formative assessment and how to engage in these practices in their classrooms, this study examines:
- How do high-school science teachers create regulated learning environments in their classrooms using dimensions of formative assessment in instruction?
- How do teachers develop their practice through a process of collaborative inquiry?
Ten high-school science teachers are investigating integrating formative assessment into their regular teaching practices. The teachers and university staff form a research team that meets monthly. Data include monthly school site visits and observations; an electronic forum for the group; audio recording of the monthly research team meetings; and tri-annual interviews with the teachers. We will use a research-based framework of dimensions of formative assessment developed in a previous project to guide the focus of the teacher inquiries and to analyze changes in teachers' practice over time. Data analysis about change over time in practice aligns with a research-based framework for formative assessment (Sato, Wei, Darling-Hammond, 2008).
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