Making Instruction and Assessment Responsive to Diverse Students’ Progress: Group-Administered Dynamic Assessment in Teaching Mathematics

This study entailed a 3 (instructional intervention) × 2 (assessment-type) between-subjects experimental design employing a pretest—intervention—posttest methodology. The instructional interventions were administered between subjects in three conditions: (a) dynamic instruction, (b) triarchic or theory of successful intelligence-control instruction, and (c) standard-control instruction. The assessment-type consisted between subjects of either (a) a group-administered dynamic posttest or (b) the same group-administered posttest interspersed with a control filler activity. Performance in different mathematics content areas taught in fourth grade was investigated. In total, 1,332 students and 63 classroom teachers in 24 schools across six school districts participated in the study. The results indicate the advantages of using dynamic instruction and assessment in regular classrooms while teaching mathematics, especially when the student body is highly ethnically diverse.

[1]  R. Sternberg.  Beyond IQ: A Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence , 1984 .

[2]  A. Anastasi.  Psychological testing, 6th ed. , 1988 .

[3]  J. Ogbu.  Differences in Cultural Frame of Reference , 1993 .

[4]  Robert J. Sternberg,et al.  Raising the Achievement of All Students: Teaching for Successful Intelligence , 2002 .

[5]  Anthony S. Bryk,et al.  Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods , 1992 .

[6]  Saundra Murray Nettles,et al.  Understanding Resilience: The Role of Social Resources , 2000 .

[7]  Kay E. Payne,et al.  Culturally valid testing: a proactive approach , 1983 .

[8]  S. Daniels.  Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity Synthesized. , 2005 .

[9]  Vincent J. Roscigno.  Family/School Inequality and African-American/Hispanic Achievement , 2000 .

[10]  R. Sternberg.  The Triarchic Mind: A New Theory of Human Intelligence , 1988 .

[11]  L. S. Vygotskiĭ,et al.  Mind in society : the development of higher psychological processes , 1978 .

[12]  Elena L. Grigorenko,et al.  A Triarchic Analysis of an Aptitude-Treatment Interaction , 1999 .

[13]  Elena L. Grigorenko,et al.  Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test in Three International Samples , 2001 .

[14]  W. Wittmann,et al.  Investigating the paths between working memory, intelligence, knowledge, and complex problem solving performances via Brunswik-symmetry , 1999 .

[15]  Carol S. Lidz,et al.  Dynamic assessment : prevailing models and applications , 2000 .

[16]  R. Sternberg,et al.  Dynamic assessment as a process-oriented assessment in educational settings , 2007 .

[17]  Robert J. Sternberg,et al.  The Theory of Successful Intelligence , 2000 .

[18]  M. J. Moran,et al.  Task Variability Effects on the Language Test Performance of Southern Lower Socioeconomic Class African American and Caucasian Five-Year-Olds. , 1998, Language, speech, and hearing services in schools.

[19]  R. Bradley,et al.  The home environments of children in the United States part II: relations with behavioral development through age thirteen. , 2001, Child development.

[20]  B. Bunting,et al.  The Effects of Practice and Coaching on Test Results for Educational Selection at Eleven Years of Age , 2001 .

[21]  R. Sternberg.  Abilities Are Forms of Developing Expertise , 1998 .

[22]  James S. Braswell,et al.  The Nation's Report Card: Mathematics, 2000. , 2001 .

[23]  B. B. Brown,et al.  Ethnic differences in adolescent achievement. An ecological perspective. , 1992, The American psychologist.

[24]  J. Oakes,et al.  Opportunity to Learn and Conceptions of Educational Equality , 1995 .

[25]  J. Bransford,et al.  The ideal problem solver , 1984 .

[26]  J. Elshout,et al.  The predictive and discriminant validity of the zone of proximal development. , 2001, The British journal of educational psychology.

[27]  Geoffrey D. Borman,et al.  Academic Resilience in Mathematics among Poor and Minority Students , 2004, The Elementary School Journal.

[28]  Doris R. Entwisle,et al.  Summer Setback: Race, Poverty, School Composition, and Mathematics Achievement in the First Two Years of School. , 1992 .

[29]  T. Schack,et al.  Dynamic testing , 2003 .

[30]  D. Uttal,et al.  Beliefs and achievement: a study of black, white, and Hispanic children. , 1990, Child development.

[31]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  The Road To Excellence: The Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and Sciences, Sports, and Games , 1996 .

[32]  James P. Byrnes,et al.  Factors predictive of mathematics achievement in White, Black, and Hispanic 12th graders , 2003 .