Formative Assessment Cycle: a Strategy for Communication “Formative assessment is a planned process in which assessment-elicited evidence of students’ status is used by teachers to adjust their ongoing instructional procedures or by students to adjust their current learning tactics.” W. James Popham 2008 Formative Assessment NSF GK12 Objective Lesson Assessment Objective Lesson Assessment Teachers start with an objective that they share with the students. Teachers and students participate in the lesson. Students are assessed on the objective. A new objective might be determined that reflects the results of the assessment. By Cristina Heffernan, Neil Heffernan, Zach Brodrick, Matt Dailey, Paul Gibler, Adam Goldstein and Zach Pardos and our cooperating teachers The Assessment informs the next objective. There is another assessment to assess the new objective. Teachers and students participate in a new lesson. Mastery Learning The ASSISTment system is a joint collaboration between and Online exit card INCORRECT a 2 +b 2 = c = x = x 2 340= x = x CORRECT a 2 +b 2 = c x 2 = x 2 = 196 x 2 = 54 x = 7.21 There were 43 students in this class. Not all are shown Students are given 3 quick questions. The teacher and students can see the results instantly. In this case a common misconception was uncovered. The teacher responded by showing this data to the class and discussing the misconception. Later the teacher re-assessed finding the leg of a right triangle. Problem Solving The teacher gives a set of 8 problems for students to work on over a week. The student demonstrates understanding by writing the solution for the teacher to assess. The original score, and adjusted score, is recorded in a folder. If the student gets the problem wrong their next lesson is the online tutoring. This is an example of the tutoring for one problem. Essay Critique The teacher gives a problem that asks for both the numerical answer to a question as well as the explanation. In this example there are three questions. The item report shows the ungraded explanation and the graded numerical answers. The numerical answers revealed a misconception. Only 5% of the students got part “b” correct. Once the students graded the explanations the teacher reviewed their grades and their reasoning for the grade with the whole class. Students often work in groups to assess their explanations. Teachers monitor the work and give comments to encourage students. The teacher selected just 3 example explanations to inform the next objective. Student critiques of their classmates’ explanations become a final assessment. In mastery learning the problem set has over 50 problems that match one skill. Students work until they get 3 right in a row. If a student gets the problem wrong they can ask for as many hints as they need and then they try again. Students work in class, in the lab or at home. Teachers and students get a final report on the time spent to master. From th grade MCAS From th grade MCAS Funders: