Office of School Improvement Differentiated Webinar Series Formative Assessment October 3, 2011 Dr. Dorothea Shannon, Dr. Greg Wheeler, Mrs. Thomasyne Beverly 1

The ultimate goal in school improvement is for the people attached to the school to drive its continuous improvement for the sake of their own children and students. - Dr. Sam Redding 2

Today’s Agenda 1.Welcome (2 minutes) 2.Goals from last year and team reporting (10 minutes) 3.Research regarding the Formative assessment(20 minutes) 4.Activity/Discussion for participants related to uncovering misconceptions ( 20 minutes) 5.Reflections/Assignment for the subsequent webinar (8 minutes) 3

Purpose To review the goals from web sessions. To identify the 4 modules of the formative assessment professional development from school year. To define “misconceptions” and its impact on learning. To discuss status of formative assessment professional development in each school. To develop a schedule for continuing formative assessment PD 4

Formative Assessment Goals  To explore teachers’ perception of assessments and how these perceptions influence current practices.  To examine how to create a culture within the school that recognizes and values the role of formative assessments in student achievement.  To investigate ways to develop partnerships with students to provide them with quality feedback in order to increase their achievement.  To develop an understanding of formative assessment.  To identify ways that formative assessment can inform instruction to improve student achievement. 5

Goals continued...  To understand the difference between formative assessment and summative assessment.  To identify strategies for incorporating formative assessment into your improvement plan (there are now 27 FA indicators on Indistar) 6

Formative Assessments m Modules  Assessment for learning  Checking for understanding  Feedback  Uncovering misconceptions 7

Team Reporting Select one member of your team to share the following information: 1.How many FA modules on the TeachFirst /Editure site did you complete? 2.Which training did you have the most success with (student achievement improved as a result of the PD)? 3.Which of the of FA professional development modules are you concentrating on this year? Do you have an implementation schedule? 8

What the Research Says  “Successful formative assessment involves changing perspective and enhancing current practices by providing relevant descriptive feedback to students; developing greater student understanding of learning goals; and valuing the quality of student work over quantity. ( Black and Wiliam, 1998) 9

Overall Student Improvement Taken from Butler, Ruth British Journal of Educational Psychology Group Type of Feedback Improve- ment from lesson 1 to 2 Attitude about the work of high and low achievers AComments only 30% gain High-positive; low - positive BGrades onlyNo gain High-positive; Low –negative CGrades and comments Negative gain High-positive; low-negative 10

What students recall about feedback Taken from Butler, Ruth British Journal of Educational Psychology What students recalled Comments only groupComments & grade group Failed to recall 16% 19% Recalled comments 84% 5% Recalled grade n/a 23% Recalled grade and comments n/a 53% 11

Source: Snow-Renner, R. & Lauer, P.A. (2005). Professional Development Analysis. McREL Insights, Extended duration; Focused on specific content and/or instructional strategies rather than general; “ When a comprehensive assessment program balances formative and summative student assessment student learning/achievement information, a clear picture emerges of where a student is relative to learning targets and standards. Students should be able to articulate this shared information about their own learning. The more we know about individual students as they engage in the learning process, the better we can adjust instruction to ensure that all students continue to achieve.” (Garrison and Ehringhaus, 2003) What the Research Says 12

Misconceptions! Why do misconceptions create problems? Jose Mestre said in 1989 that 1) misconceptions interfere with learning when students use them to interpret new experiences; and 2) students give up misconceptions with great reluctance. False preconceptions stem from earlier education and come from past experiences. (Editure, 2010) 13

Check for understanding  With your team, discuss a time when you encountered a student’s misconception. Type your answer in the chat box. 14

Five ways to uncover a misconception – from Editure, Ask open-ended questions to probe deeper into a student’s knowledge of a subject 2.Activate prior knowledge by asking what they know, ask what they want to learn, and after instruction reflect on what they learned. 3.Make predictions prior to reading. 4.Contrast ideas before and after instruction. 5.Ask students for proof. 15

What was one idea I learned during today’s webinar that I plan to share with teachers at my school? 16

Team Assignments for Webinar Session #2 1.Develop your schedule for continuing formative assessment PD using TeachFirst/Editure – Instructional Conversations. 2. Be prepared to share your school’s successes in February and next steps to ”institutionalize” formative assessments 17

Questions? Next web session will be on February 29, 2012 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.. 18