What Is Formative Assessment

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module you should be able to:

1. Define formative assessment
2. Evaluate different types of formative assessment

What is Formative Assessment?

Before we can evaluate formative assessment methods we first need a clear idea of what formative assessment is. Let's explore a few definitions:

"Practice in a classroom is formative to the extent that evidence about student achievement is elicited, interpreted, 
and used by teachers,  learners, or their peers, to make decisions about the next steps in instruction 
that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the  decisions they would have taken in the absence 
of the evidence that was elicited." (Black and William, 2009)

"At the center of all this research is one underlying idea: Formative assessment is a constantly occurring process, a verb,
a series of events in action, not a single tool or a static noun. In order for formative assessment to have an impact on
instruction and  student  learning, teachers must be involved every step of the way and have the flexibility to make decisions
throughout the  assessment  process." (NTCE, 2017)

Essentially, formative assessment is a way for teachers to evaluate individual student achievement "on the fly" and use this data to support students in their learning and improve future lessons.

Navigation

Continue to Lesson 2: Designing formative assessments using Kahoot

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Return to Introduction

Jump ahead to Module 3: Analyzing formative assessment results

References

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the Theory of Formative Assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation And Accountability, 21(1), 5-31.