Unit 2- Formative Assessment in Practice
Objectives
At the end of this unit students will be able to:
- Give examples of formative assessments
- Apply what they have learned about formative assessments to brainstorm a specific assessment for their own classroom
- Explain how using formative assessment in the classroom supports lesson planning and student learning
What does formative assessment look like in the classroom?
Formative assessment opens meaningful and reflective communication in a classroom. Activities that give educators an opportunity to check the understanding of their students and give constructive helpful feedback. As we have seen in Unit 1, formative assessment is focused on non-numeric grading.
There are many different forms of formative assessment. Some are traditional with right and wrong answers, others are creative and allow the students to express their understanding of a topic rather than answering questions created by the teacher. Different types of assessment are useful for assessing different types of objectives.
- Individual white boards. Students respond to a prompt on their own white board, the teacher takes note of students who are struggling and those who are answering correctly consistently. This assessment is useful for giving individualized feedback quickly. Students who are struggling receive targeted feedback as the teacher is able to comment on their answers.
- Think-pair-share. Students answer a prompt individually and then share their responses with a partner. One of the partners then shares out to the class the information discussed in the group. This allows for the student to gather feedback from a partner and the larger class.
- Ticket-out-the door. Students respond to either a set of questions or an open ended prompt to reflect on their learning that day. This give the teacher the opportunity to reflect on the answers given and give comments to each student.
- Brainstorming. Brainstorming allows students to organize their thoughts and gives teachers the opportunity to make sure the student is grasping all the necessary information to continue with the assignment.
- Peer review of written assignments.
- Reflective journal. Students can summarize their understanding of a topic or respond to probing questions. These journals can be reviewed by the teacher or by peers.
Looking at these examples it becomes clear that they are only one part of formative assessment. If the teacher assesses that students, individually or as a whole, are misunderstanding an objective set feedback is needed to correct this. Giving students feedback on their work allows them to "close the gap" between their current understanding and the full concept. Feedback given on formative assessments should be meaningful and helpful to students. Simply saying that an expressed idea is incorrect does not aid the student in furthering their understanding of the topic.
Nicol and a Macfarlane-Dick(2006) outline 7 Good feedback practice:
- helps clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, expected standards);
- facilitates the development of self-assessment (reflection) in learning;
- delivers high quality information to students about their learning;
- encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning;
- encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem;
- provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance;
- provides information to teachers that can be used to help shape teaching.
Read File:Nicol article.pdf for more information on feedback.
Check for Understanding
Review the following slide show of 54 different types of formative assessments, https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nzhdnyMQmio5lNT75ITB45rHyLISHEEHZlHTWJRqLmQ/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000#slide=id.g583166bc_1_112. Choose 1 or 2 types that interest you and answer the following questions.
- How is this form of assessment an effective example of formative assessment?
- What type of objective would this form of assessment work best with?
- How would the information gained from this assessment help direct future lesson planning?
- How would you give feedback on this form of assessment?
Give your responses to the questions on the padlet wall:http://padlet.com/wall/x4pjaptq0y
Why use formative assessment?
The benefits of formative assessment have been widely studied. Cornelius (2013) made the following observation: "..formative assessment has been credited with increasing student achievement (Madison-Harris & Muoneke, 2012). The literature on formative assessment suggests that outcomes for students who struggle with learning, students with disabilities, and English language learners increase when formative assessment is implemented as a systematic and continual process" (Cornelius,2013).
Gangé(2005)notes that " (formative assessments)motivate students to study, thereby lessening cumulative failure"(p.270).
"When giving students feedback on both oral and written work, it is the nature, rather than the amount, of commentary that is critical. Research experiments have established that, while student learning can be advanced by feedback through comments, the giving of numerical scores or grades has a negative effect, in that students ignore comments when marks are also given. These results often surprise teachers, but those who have abandoned the giving of marks discover that their experience confirms the findings:students do engage more productively in improving their work.(Black et. al 2004)"
Dylan William discusses the importance of formative assessment in this short video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPf0nQFfv50
Through this video he shares 5 core beliefs that show the importance of using formative assessment correctly in the classroom:
1. Clarifying, sharing, and understanding learning intentions and criteria for success, getting the students to really understand what their classroom experience will be and how their success will be measured.
2. Engineering effective classroom discussions, activities, and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning, developing effective classroom instructional strategies that allow for the measurement of success.
3. Providing feedback that moves learning forward, working with students to provide them the information they need to better understand problems and solutions.
4. Activating learners as instructional resources for one another, getting students involved with each other in discussions and working groups can help improve student learning.
5. Activating learners as owners of their own learning.
What does this mean?
- Formative assessment empowers students with knowledge about their progress, allowing them to make better informed decisions about their learning and comprehension. Williams shares that formative assessment allows students to really understand what they will learn, how they will learn and how learning will be measured.
- Formative assessment also keeps teachers better informed of student progress. This empowers educators to include targeted re-teaching and lets them know when objectives have been reached. Teachers can use discussions and peer interaction in the room to give feedback on student progress.
- Most importantly, students become responsible for their own progression of skills. They are responsible for interpreting the consistent feedback they receive and applying it to their learning.
Reflection
With all that you have learned about what formative assessment is and what it looks like in a classroom. What other benefits can you see to formative assessment? How would a classroom with fewer formal grades function? When have you used formative assessment successfully in past lessons? What made the lesson so successful in your mind? Respond to these questions on the word wall. Take the time to respond to the ideas of one other classmate. Remember, peer feedback is important. http://padlet.com/wall/5p3erhtcje
Resources
Cornelius, K. E. (2013). Formative Assessment Made Easy. Teaching Exceptional Children, 45(5), 14-21.
Gangé, R., Walter, W., Katharine, G., & John, K. (2005).Principles of instructional desgin. New York: Wadsworth.
Nicol, D. J., & Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006). Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies In Higher Education, 31(2), 199-218. doi:10.1080/03075070600572090