The use of goal setting and progress self-monitoring with formative assessment in community college to increase academic achievement and self-efficacy

The study examined the effects of formative assessment on community college students’ content-specific vocabulary skills, academic achievement and academic self-efficacy. Sixty-one community college students who were enrolled in Developmental Psychology took part in formative assessment only (N = 24), formative assessment in conjunction with goal setting and self-monitoring (N = 19) or no formative assessment (N = 20). It was hypothesized that students who took part in formative assessment in conjunction with goal setting and self-monitoring would achieve higher content-specific vocabulary skills, academic achievement and academic self-efficacy from pretest to posttest when compared to students who took part in formative assessment only and no formative assessment. Findings indicated that students in both of the formative assessment groups had significantly higher content-specific vocabulary skills from pretest to posttest when compared to the control group. Implications for formative assessment practices with community college students and the lack of support for the hypotheses are discussed.