Formative Assessment The bright spot in a student’s day Ellwood City Area School District

Cultivating our Garden If we think of our children as plants … Summative assessment of the plants is the process of simply measuring them. It might be interesting to compare and analyze measurements but, in themselves, these do not affect the growth of the plants. Formative assessment, on the other hand, is the equivalent of feeding and watering the plants appropriate to their needs - directly affecting their growth.

Some Evolution of Definitions Formative assessment “… often means no more than that the assessment is carried out frequently and is planned at the same time as teaching.” (Black and Wiliam, 1999) “… provides feedback which leads to students recognizing the (learning) gap and closing it … it is forward looking …” (Harlen, 1998) “ … includes both feedback and self-monitoring.” (Sadler, 1989) “… is used essentially to feed back into the teaching and learning process.” (Tunstall and Gipps, 1996)

If you're not learning you’re not teaching! How well do you: Share learning goals with students? Involve students in self assessment? Provide timely focused feedback? Do you have confidence that every student in your class can improve? Think now about some of the things that prevent us from assessing in a formative manner. Rate yourself on a scale from 0-5 (0 means it never happens to 5 meaning I feel this way all the time)

Components of Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment Help teachers make adjustments that will help ensure students achieve, standard-based learning goals within a set time frame, as soon as they see the understanding of the students. Four main points for formative assessment according to research, which include questioning, feedback through grading, peer- and self-assessment, and formative use of summative test.

Questioning Preparing questions allows an opportunity for deeper thinking and provides teachers with significant insight into degree of understanding. Helping Students ask better questions is another aspect of this formative assessment strategy. Wait time has to be increased to several seconds to give the students time to think and everyone should be expected to contribute to discussion. Follow-up activities have to be rich, in that they create opportunities to extend students’ understanding.

Feedback Through Grading One of the key concepts of engaging students in the assessment of their own learning is providing them with descriptive feedback as they learn. Written tasks, alongside oral questioning, should encourage students to develop and show understanding of the key features of what they have learned. Comments should identify what has been done well and what still needs improvement and give guidance on how to make that improvement. Opportunities for students to respond to comments should be planned as part of the overall learning process.

Peer- and Self-Assessment Students need to be involved both as assessors of their own learning and as resources to other students. Students should be taught the habits and skills of collaboration in peer assessment, both because of intrinsic value and because peer assessment can help develop the objectivity required for effective self-assessment. Students should be encouraged to keep in mind that aims of their work and assess their own progress toward meeting these aims as they proceed. Then they will be able to guide their own work and become independent learners.

Formative use of Summative Test When a comprehensive assessment program at the classroom level balances formative and summative student learning/achievement information, a clear picture emerges of where a student is relative to learning targets and standards. Students can be engaged in a reflective review of the work they have done to enable them to plan their revision effectively. Students can be encouraged to set questions and mark answers so as to gain an understanding of the assessment process and further refine their efforts for improvement. Students should be encouraged through peer assessment and self-assessment to apply criteria to help them understand how their work might be improved.

Resources feature=related feature=related

How we do formative assessment Formative Assessment has greatly impacted the way we do business at Lincoln High School this year Two Examples ADVISORY PROGRAM GRADUATION PLAN

Advisory Program Every student will report to their assigned advisor room on Tuesday & Thursday between periods 3 & 4 (9:45-10:15) You will follow the same advisor throughout your high school career Your locker will be located near your advisor room Every other Thursday will be an activity period for clubs & activity meetings

The changes continued No homeroom period – students will report directly to first period class (Period 1 is 5 minutes longer) Attendance will be taken first period ECTV Announcements will still take place at the end of first period Periods will be 44 minutes on regular schedule Periods will be 40 minutes on activity/advisory schedule Every Tuesday & Thursday will be either activity or advisory period (subject to change for rare occurrences)

Advisory period is… a time to meet with a specified teacher to review & discuss important topics that will benefit you during your high school career a time to be actively engaged in learning that is not directly related towards your regular classes a time to build a relationship with a staff member that you may have never had the opportunity before to do so is something that should be taken very seriously

Advisory period is not… another activity period during the week a 30 minute study hall to complete other work a period to get a permit to hang out somewhere in the building the guidance office (advisors can recommend students to guidance) something that should be “laughed off”

The hammer Is there a grade with the advisory period? No. There is no pressure with the advisory program, but it is to your advantage to actively participate. Failure to cooperate & complete different aspects of the advisory program may result in a student being referred to the administration for social probation.

Graduation Project Students in our district could see no value in the old senior project. Basically, they could grow a garden and mash everything together in a bowl. They would make a short presentation about how good the salsa was and throw the project in the dumpster on the way out the door. The faculty and administration named this phenomenon the “salsa syndrome”

Making the change…

We Formed a Graduation Planning Committee that reviewed various plans The team adopted a graduation handbook please visit We really liked this template and began totemplate morph it into something our students could use…

Using what we have… Our advisor check progress each 9 week grading period We use an online checklist to make referrals for students to social probation We also use the e-portfolio feature in Blended Schools to make comments to individual student’s portfolios.

formative transformation Any change is difficult Planning and preparation are keys to success with formative assessment Everyone has to be committed to the change (administration, teacher, student, parent) The future of education in our district will become even more personalized When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative; when the guests taste the soup, that’s summative.