McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 5: FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Guiding Student Learning Formative Assessment Defined

5-2 I MPROVE (N OT J UST A UDIT ) L EARNING Formative assessment results provide a teacher with essential information on what students know and understand and what they do not know Thus, necessary instructional adjustments can be made (e.g., information or skills reviewed and/or re-taught) As Wiggins (1998) has posed, “Imagine an educative assessment system that is designed to improve, not just audit, student performance.”

5-3 R EAL T IME I NFORMATION It helps to provide that all-important progress reflection of student learning status at different points during the learning process. Consequently, formative assessment needs to be viewed as a necessary component of the “real time” part of teaching. Where students receive critical review, confirmation, and correction as they complete their work and make desired progress in the classroom.

5-4 F ORMATIVE A SSESSMENT D EFINED Formative assessment or “assessment for learning” is directly connected to the teaching mandate in the instruction- assessment model of “How do they get there?” Formative assessment can involve any measures and procedures that are used to: Gauge where students are in their learning progress Improve or enhance that progress

5-5 T HE D EAL B REAKER ? The quality and effectiveness of information gained from formative assessments is invaluable. It has tremendous impact on the current and cumulative learning effects for students. It can be the difference between a student “getting it” or not. It’s the difference between acquiring a skill and the accurate future demonstration of that skill or not. Many contend that meaningful formative assessment and feedback can be the educational “deal breaker” for any student.

5-6 W HAT C AN F ORMATIVE A SSESSMENT L OOK L IKE ? It can take various forms: Checking the accuracy of worksheets Diagrams Observations Completion of checklists Verbal questioning, etc… It is defined by its valuable feedback on the accuracy of student work within the normal operating parameters of the classroom. No grade or formal evaluation of student performances are generated with this type of assessment

5-7 I T ’ S L EARNING G LUE Meaningful feedback is provided early on and throughout the learning process to the students. Vital because information being reviewed will likely be evaluated later as part of summative assessment measures. It is the essential educational “glue” that maximizes instructional impact over the course of a learning activity or event.

5-8 T EACHER D ECIDES ON A SSESSMENT P URPOSE It is important to recognize and understand that data collection techniques, procedures, or various measurement items are not aligned to one specific form of assessment function (Chappuis & Chappuis 2008). For example, a test or quiz doesn’t have to be a formal or summative assessment. A test or quiz could easily function as a formative assessment and are often used for that very purpose. A test or quiz that measures learning progress over a specified amount of material doesn’t have to possess a formal evaluation function. It can serve as practice or a preliminary review for a later test that does function as an official summative measurement.

5-9 A SSESSMENT P URPOSE D ESIGN Purpose of the assessment… Determines how the measure is to be used which… Determines the type of assessment it is and it’s intended function (formative, summative, or self- assessment)

5-10 F EEDBACK FOR S TUDENTS AND T EACHER The primary directive with formative assessment is to: Provide the learner with information that directly helps improve their learning in the classroom. Also serves a second important purpose: Assists the teacher in acquiring a better understanding of the instructional effectiveness of his or her teaching and delivery. It is important for the teacher not to ignore the formative feedback that is provided as part of the instructional experience.

5-11 I NSTRUCTIONAL M IRROR Given that immediate student performance feedback is available, the following questions are natural ones to ask: Was that lesson effective? Did the students demonstrate the intended outcome(s)? Did the students understand and connect the ideas and/or skills that were presented? Could the content be presented in a different way to be more effective? How so?

5-12 G OOD Q UESTIONS TO A SK As formative assessment becomes integrated and constructed within the fabric of your teaching and lessons, consider the following questions and answers you would provide: 1. Do the selected formative measure(s) require the students to demonstrate the knowledge or skill sets of the desired learning outcomes of the lesson? 2. Is the formative measure strategically placed in the teaching process to provide maximum benefit to both the instructor and the learners? 3. Are the students familiar and comfortable with the measurement forms and items that appear in the formative measure(s)?

5-13 F ORMATIVE A SSESSMENT IS A V ERY G OOD T HING IN THE C LASSROOM Formative assessment helps to: Confirm that your students are making progress Enhance and maintain that progress What makes this assessment form so powerful is that corrective information holds a “no risk” status for the learner. Benefits are obtained in the acquisition of greater knowledge or skill without a formal evaluation attached to one’s performance.