The purpose of this quantitative, exploratory study was to describe urban middle school content-teachers' reports of self-efficacy in designing, using, and interpreting standards-aligned common formative assessments in order to improve student learning. For the purposes of this study self-efficacy is not a general belief, but one related to specific tasks (Bandura, 1997). As such, the demands of specific tasks within a specified domain serve as the basis upon which judgments of capability are made. Data was also collected concerning experiences that teachers perceived as being most helpful in the development of their confidence regarding these practices.;This study was conducted in four urban school districts in Connecticut. Middle school teachers of Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies were polled. The Sense of Efficacy: Common Formative Assessments Survey (Bunnell, 2010), a researcher-developed Internet-based survey, was completed by 64 teachers.;Data analyses revealed that a simple majority of urban middle school teachers who participated reported moderately high levels of self-efficacy in the tasks associated with designing, using, and interpreting common formative assessments. Participants reported that they gained confidence from activities mainly associated with emotional arousal, vicarious experiences and enactive mastery experiences.
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