Publications

Abstract:
Our study is part of the broad epistemological and didactic debate about how to integrate the results, methods, theoretical frameworks, and findings of large-scale tests into the actions of teachers and the wider context of educational institutions. Large-scale assessments (LSA) becoming the subject of several research in mathematics education (Suurtamm et al., 2016). In Italy, the National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education and Training System (INVALSI) is a public research institution, part of the National Evaluation of the Education and Training System (SNV), that promotes the improvement of educational levels through the deployment of tools to measure the students’ learning outcomes and skills, and through the quality assessment of schools. Macro phenomena highlighted in these surveys can provide useful information and become interpretative tools of some aspects of the mathematics teaching-learning processes specific to the Italian context (e.g. Ferretti & Bolondi, 2019). Our study shows outcomes of the National Research Project “Mathematics standardized assessment as a tool for teachers’ professional development”, which aims to develop theoretical and operative tools for exploiting the results of the mathematics national assessment tests with respect to teachers professional development. The main expected outcome is the development of models for pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers, based on an effective and conscious use of standardized assessments. In particular, a model for the professional development of in-service and pre-service teachers is outlined. Qualitative and quantitative analyses will lead to an increasingly fine-tuned delineation of the model, which will be implemented in numerous in-service teacher professional development courses and degree courses for pre-service teachers. This national project is financed by European Union and Italian Ministry of Education and University (PRIN 2022 - research projects of significant national interest).

How to cite:
Viola, G., Ferretti, F., Gambini, A., Martignone, F., Soldano, C., & Spagnolo, C. (2024). Teachers’ professional development and mathematics LSA: first result of national project. In 47th Proceedings of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME47), Vol. 1, pp. 223-224.

Abstract:
Our study fits within the strand of research linking large-scale assessments and mathematics education. In particular, our research is based on the use, in teacher professional development courses, of a online database, Gestinv and on the ways in which its informed use can contribute to increasing the mathematics specialized knowledge of teachers and future teachers. The main outcome of the research is the design of a model for teacher professional development. 

How to cite:
Ferretti, F., Gambini, A., Monica, S., Soldano, C., Spagnolo, C., & Viola, G. (2024). LSA Gestinv Database as a tool for the professional development of mathematics teachers. In 4th Proceedings of the International Conference Mathematics Education in the Digital Age (MEDA 4), pp. 426-428.

Abstract:
In this theoretical contribution we present a model for teacher training rooted in a national research project funded by the Italian government that aims to develop theoretical and operational tools for exploiting the results of the Italian National Large-Scale Assessment (LSA) with respect to teachers’ professional development. The main expected outcome of this project is the development of models for pre-service and in-service mathematics teacher professional programs, based on an effective and conscious use of LSA. Here we first introduce the theoretical framework, based on the MTSK-model, the notion of Community of inquiry, and the notions of beliefs related to the change of teaching practice, and then present, exemplify and discuss the model for pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers training we derived from it, highlighting why it could induce changes in teachers’ beliefs on the usefulness of LSA and consequently induce changes in their teaching practice.

How to cite:
Bolondi, G., Cibien, M. C., & Spagnolo, C. (in press). Acting on teachers’ beliefs regarding the role of Large Scale Assessment resources for teaching practice: a model for teacher training. International Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education (LUMAT-B)

Abstract:
OECD data show that students who are fifteen years old and have reached Level 1 acquire limited mathematical knowledge on their own, which they are only able to apply in some familiar situations. Referring to INVALSI data of 2022, a similar situation occurs in Italy. Already at the end of the last century, the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989) and the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM, 1991) have promoted a vision for teaching and learning that has growing support from the mathematics education community. The possibility for a teacher to use in his classroom the insights on mathematical learnings provided by the standardized tests - through their theoretical frameworks, the released items with the interpretation of macro-phenomena observed, the valuation of their results - in a formative way is an important opportunity to renew the praxis in teaching and assessment. To reach this goal we use articolate our methodology as a multiphase research design.

How to cite:
Spagnolo, C., Cibien, M. C., Saccoletto, M., & Soldano, C. (in press). Results of INVALSI standardized assessment as a tool for professional development of mathematics teachers. FrancoAngeli 

Abstract:
The systemic impact of standardized assessments has been well studied for a long time. More recent is the interest on their impact on classroom practices, except for the discussion on teaching to test. There is evidence that there is an increasing use of materials from national standardized assessments in pre-service and in-service teacher professional development programs, but no organic research has been performed in the Italian context (and very few in the international one) on this topic. This research aims to fill this gap.

How to cite:
Cibien, M. C., Ferretti, F., Pozio, S., & Viale, M. (in press). Reflections on teachers' practices for an effective and conscious use of standardized assessments. FrancoAngeli

Abstract:

How to cite:
Martignone, F., Bolondi, G., & Ferretti, F. (2024). Riflessioni sugli errori degli studenti nelle prove INVALSI di matematica: prime attività di un progetto nazionale. La didattica della matematica al servizio del docente per un insegnamento efficace, Bonomo, pp. 101-102.

Abstract:
In questo contributo mostriamo i primi risultati di un progetto di ricerca nazionale. Il progetto mira a sviluppare strumenti teorici e operativi per sfruttare i risultati della Valutazione Nazionale su Grande Scala (LSA) in relazione allo sviluppo professionale degli insegnanti. Il principale risultato atteso da questo progetto è lo sviluppo di modelli per percorsi di formazione per futuri insegnanti di matematica e insegnanti in servizio, basati su un uso efficace e consapevole della LSA. I quesiti scelti per lo sviluppo di questa ricerca sono stati selezionati in verticale facendo una ricerca con il database delle prove INVALSI GESTINV (Gestinv, 2018). Nel corso di questa presentazione verranno fatti esempi specifici rispetto alla Scuola secondaria di secondo grado.

How to cite:
Gambini., A., Saccoletto, M., & Spagnolo, C. (2024). Il ruolo formativo della valutazione nella scuola secondaria di secondo grado. La didattica della matematica al servizio del docente per un insegnamento efficace, Bonomo, pp. 205-206.

Abstract:
This contribution aims to illustrate and share the first results of the National Project “Mathematics standardized assessment as a tool for teachers' professional development”. The project aims to develop theoretical and operative tools to utilize the results of mathematics national assessment tests with respect to teachers’ professional development; at the same time, it is intended to promote a formative use in schools, both at institutional and classroom level, of all the materials produced during the Italian national assessment INVALSI and of the good practices developed in connection with.

How to cite:
Bolondi, G., Cibien, M. C., Ferretti, F., Gambini, A., & Martignone, F. (in press). Teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about assessment in mathematics: initial evidence from a national survey of teachers’ formative needs. In M. Bosh, S. Carreira, G. Bolondi, M. Gaidoschik & C. Spagnolo (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fourteenth Congress of European Research in Mathematics Education (CERME14). ERME / Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.