Do You Need an Autopsy or a Physical? The Role of Formative & Summative Assessment

The word ‘assess’ comes from the Latin verb ‘assidere’ meaning ‘to sit with’. In assessment one is supposed to sit with the learner. This implies it is something we do ‘with’ and ‘for’ students and not ‘to’ students (Green, 1999). What is Assessment?

Discuss: What does the current assessment cycle look like in your classroom? Unit Assessments Formative Informa l Forma l Summative Traditional Test Performance Assessment The Assessment Cycle

Formative Assessment On-going assessments Monitors / measures student progress Reviews what students have learned and can apply Evaluates instruction. Diagnoses skill or knowledge gaps Allows for reteaching, enrichment, revised teaching methods, and student feedback

Formative Assessments In daily use, teachers apply formative assessment to: - determine what concepts require more teaching - determine where students fall in their understanding of the material - what teaching techniques require modification.

Formative Assessment Examples Teacher observation shows some students do not grasp a concept, so she designs a review activity or uses a different instructional strategy for that group. Examples: - Ticket out the door, periodic quizzes, , Open-ended response, performance tasks, Think-pair-share.

1.The identification by teachers & learners of learning goals, intentions or outcomes and criteria for achieving these. 2.Rich conversations between teachers & students that continually build and go deeper. 3.The provision of effective, timely feedback to enable students to advance their learning. 4.The active involvement of students in their own learning. 5.Teachers responding to identified learning needs and strengths by modifying their teaching approach(es). Black & Wiliam, 1998 Key Elements of Formative Assessment

What are the Benefits of Formative Assessment? Number of Assessments Percentile Gain

Types of Formative Assessment Informal (IA)Formal (FA) UngradedGraded** Individual or Group WorkIndividual Work Random Individuals or Groups Assessed Entire Class Assessed Examples: Random Questioning Whiteboards Exit Cards Examples: End of Lesson Quizzes In-class Seatwork ACE - University of Notre Dame ** For assessment to be a true representation of what students know and can do, it must be completed individually and independently.

Informal Formative Assessment Find the Fib Card (Two Truths, One Lie) Directions: Write three factual statements about FRACTIONS with one of the statements being false. 1.When you add fractions, the denominators need to be the same. 2.When you subtract fractions, the numerators need to be the same. 3.The fraction ½ is greater than the fraction ⅓.

Informal Formative Assessment List-Group-Label List words Ask: “Which doesn’t belong?” “Why?” or Ask students to provide a label for the group of words 25% ¼ y = 2x a = b 7 + 4u = q

Informal Formative Assessment Data and Graphs LP1 Day 1 IFA occurs 3 times in the form of Random Questioning during Pair work and for Closure LP3 Day 1 IFA occurs 2 times in the form of Random Questioning during Pair work and whole class discussion and as an Exit card at the end. ACE - University of Notre Dame

Formal VS Informal Discuss examples of both formal and informal formative assessments you use in your classroom. Program data provides us informal assessment results

Another Benefit An Assessment Cycle of Formal and Informal formative assessment prevents a teacher, parent, or student from being surprised by a failing grade on the Summative Traditional Test!

Factors Inhibiting Assessment A tendency for teachers to assess quantity and presentation of work rather than quality of learning. Greater attention given to marking and grading, much of it tending to lower self esteem of students, rather than providing advice for improvement. A strong emphasis on comparing students with each other, which demoralizes the less successful learners.

What if: –Your final grade for the driving test was the average of all your grades received while practicing? –How would possible low grades impact your final grade? –In the beginning of learning to drive, how confident or motivated to learn would you be? –Would any of grades received provide you with guidance on what you needed to improve your driving? –YOUR FINAL TEST- or SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT- Would be the accountability measure that establishes whether or not you have the driving skills necessary for a driver’s license- not a reflection of all the driving practice that leads to it. –The SAME HOLDS TRUE for classroom instruction, learning, and assessment. –Take 5 minutes to talk with a neighbor about your path to earning your driver’s license. As you do so, feel free to make your own Formative Assessment Instructional License. Activity- How you earned your drivers license. What if, before getting your driver’s license, you received a grade every time you sat behind the wheel to practice your driving.

Review Formative Assessment is: Clarifying learning outcomes at the planning stage. Sharing learning outcomes with students. Determining what students have learned. Encouraging students’ self-assessment against the learning outcomes by providing them data that affirms or challenges their study habits. Focusing oral and written feedback on the learning outcomes of lessons and tasks. Organizing individual student target-setting that builds on previous achievement as well as aiming for the next level up. Assessing teacher effectiveness in planning and implementing instruction. Raising students’ self-esteem through the language of the classroom and the ways in which achievement is celebrated. Providing teachers with data which allows them to remedy student misunderstandings. FWPS-Teaching for Learning RTI Jan 2008

Each Lesson Objective has a corresponding Formal Assessment. The assessment is at the same Bloom verb level as the Lesson Objective and is completed I&I (individually and independently). (Please read pages top) before continuing.) Formal Formative Assessments Unit Cover Page

LP1 Objective: SWBAT calculate mean and the effect outliers have on it. LP1 Assessment: After an informal poll of 10 students for # of preferred chicken nuggets, SWBAT calculate the mean # of preferred nuggets both with and without outliers. Unit Cover Page – A&I LP Assessments Lesson Plans that Benefit All Students

Unit Cover Page – A&I LP Assessments Lesson Plans that Benefit All, Especially Struggling Students LP3 Objective: SWBAT organize data in a frequency table or line plot while also finding the range. LP3 Assessment: Looking at the monthly forecast for Phoenix (rain and temperatures), students will report measures of central tendency and display data in a frequency table of line plot.

Unit Planning

Using the paper form and the Unit Cover Page For the 1 st Unit develop Lesson Plan Assessments for Lessons 1, 2, and the final one before the TT. Unit Cover Page – Lesson Assessments