Title Closing the design cycle: A conclusive set of design principles for formative assessment plans AbstractDesigning a plan for formative assessment can support teachers in using formative assessment to inform their decisions about the best next steps in teaching and learning. In an earlier study, design principles were formulated to support teachers in designing a coherent and goal-oriented formative assessment plan. However, those design principles were based only on a theoretical exploration. In this study, teachers from four secondary schools used the principles to design and implement their own formative assessment plans over multiple design cycles. Their experiences became a basis for refining the design principles. The question in the current study is: What is a conclusive set of design principles for formative assessment plans for the purpose of supporting better-founded formative decision-making based on empirical and theoretical evidence? Through preparatory sessions and interviews with two teachers per school, suggestions were collected for modifying the design principles and essential characteristics of a plan to achieve better-informed formative decision-making. The outcome of this study is a refined set of design principles. It prescribes that a formative assessment plan that contributes to better-informed formative decisions must be constructively aligned, include decision-driven data collection and make room for adjustments and improvement in teaching and learning. Furthermore, it describes the procedures that teachers should follow during the design process to achieve these characteristics and outcomes. While this set of design principles is conclusive for now, further research on their practical efficacy may lead to future refinements. Description of the data included To come to a conclusive set of design principles, the eight teachers from four secondary schools were interviewed in pairs. Teachers reacted to the design principles in two ways: 1) directly, by giving suggestions for changes, improvements and additions for the procedural design principles and 2) indirectly, by focusing on the positive outcomes they experienced while working with formative assessment plans. These positive experiences made it possible to talk in the interviews about which design characteristics led to these positive outcomes, which could subsequently lead to new design principles. Teachers first spoke about these topics in a preparatory session in pairs at each school. Subsequently, interviews were conducted to deepen this conversation and link positive outcomes to characteristics and existing procedural design principles. 1. Four reports from the preparatory sessions prior to the interview During the preparatory session, the two teachers from each school prepared for the interview by completing the following assignments together: a. Name as many positive outcomes as you can think of that you experienced while working with a formative assessment plan. b. What features of your formative assessment plan do you believe caused these positive outcomes? In other words, what characteristics must a formative assessment plan have to achieve these results? c. Review the eight design principles (Fig. 1). Would you like to adjust, eliminate or add principles so this set of design principles leads to a formative assessment plan that has the most benefits for teachers and students? 2. Anonymized Transcripts of four interviews with pairs of teachers, from four secondary schools, who designed and implemented formative assessment plans. All the positive outcomes and beneficial characteristics that teachers wrote down in the preparatory session and the procedural design principles were put on individual cards per school in preparation for the interviews. Therefore, there were three sets of cards that were used during the interviews. The first set of cards with the positive outcomes the teachers had experienced, the second set contained the beneficial characteristics they reported, and the third set of cards were the procedural design principles. There was one interview planned at each school with the two selected teachers. Each interview lasted approximately 50 to 90 minutes. The interviews were conducted using these sequential steps: a. The interviewer began by asking clarifying questions about the notes from the preparatory session. These were meant to establish that the positive outcomes mentioned were really a result of working with formative assessment plans and that the participants agreed that the information on the cards was correct and complete. b. The next step was to draw lines on a poster to connect the cards describing the positive outcomes they experienced to the cards describing the beneficial characteristics they mentioned. Thus, at the end of the interview, each poster portrayed which (combination of) characteristics of a formative assessment plan had led to which experienced positive outcomes, according to the teachers. c. Subsequently, the teachers were asked to draw lines between the cards with the beneficial characteristics and the cards with the procedural design principles. d. After and during the process of drawing lines between the different cards, teachers were asked to reflect on and discuss what these connections and their experiences could mean for modifications to the existing design principles. e. Once all the positive outcomes they experienced were linked to the corresponding beneficial characteristics they saw and the procedural design principles, the interviewer concluded the interview with three final questions: I. Can the potential of working with formative programs be further increased? If so, in what way? What does this mean for the design principles? II. Look at the usability/added value in/for practice. Can the design principles be modified/supplemented to improve this? III. What are the disadvantages of working with formative assessment plans? Can the design principles be modified/supplemented to improve this? 3. Pictures of the four posters that were the outcome of the interviews.