| In the fall of 2007, about 73.7 million students were enrolled in American schools and despite an overwhelming concentration of assessment results and research directed toward student outcome scores, only modest attention is devoted to the affect of a child's self-efficacy.;Within the last few years, formative assessment has emerged as an increasingly prominent school improvement strategy. However, minimal research has been done to view the voices of students and the role of formative assessment.;The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and the self-efficacy of students as it related to their learning experiences of formative assessment and understand how knowledge of formative assessment empowers students and teachers to improve the learning milieu.;The study reflected student insights on the following: The meanings that students make from their formative assessment experiences; that is, how do students feel in the face of a formative assessment task and how might these experiences affect their self-efficacy?;Three fifth grade public school students, who were directly involved in the classroom with formative assessment, were the participants for this study. This qualitative study was implemented in order to understand the views of young children using a research design that included case studies. The notion of allowing theory to emerge is loyal to the nature of this qualitative study where the research design unfolds and emerges throughout the research process using qualitative methods of interviewing, student journaling, student lead parent conferences and focus groups.;Results of the study revealed these themes: understanding formative assessment with subthemes of feedback, keeping track of learning, self assessment and setting goals, confidence with subthemes of optimism and effort and motivation with subthemes of intrinsic and extrinsic.;Based upon best practices in education, self-efficacy and brain theorists, the implications for the use of formative assessment and this study may point other researchers in the needed area of student perspectives and formative assessments.;Finally, educators could benefit from the understanding and importance of empowering student involvement in their own learning and formative assessment. |
