1. Formative Assessment Staff Development St. Amant High School
Danielle Delaune, Kellie Gonzales, & Lori Ridgdell

2. Formative Assessment:
Depicts students’ life as a learner.
Used to make instructional adjustments.
Alerts the teacher about student misconceptions “early warning signal.”
Allows students to build on previous experiences.
Provides regular feedback.
Provides evidence of progress.

3. Respond to the following prompt:
“Formative assessment is like cooking a gumbo.”

5. Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is the process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust teaching and learning for the purpose of improving student learning.
Council of Chief State School Officers, October 2006
Notes:
Process rather than a particular test….
It is not the nature of the test itself that makes it formative or summative…it is the use to which those results will be put. 5

6. Formative Assessment is NOT
Just another assessment in the world of accountability
Meant to be graded
Just one more thing to do in the classroom
Something given without purpose

7. The Formative Assessment Process
Students
Teachers
Understand the target.
(Focus on learning goals.)
Select and clearly communicate the learning target.
Produce work.
Make at least one assignment.
Compare the work with the target.
Compare student performance with the target or goal.
Evaluate strengths and weaknesses.
Evaluate students’ strengths and weaknesses.
Prescribe action for improvement.
Give clear oral or written feedback.
Take action for improvement: study, practice, review, rewrite, etc.
Support or assign action to close the gap. 7

9. Research consistently shows that use of regular, high-quality Formative Assessments increases student achievement.

10. Why assess? Purpose of assessment is to:
Determine if learner ‘got it’ …
Help teachers determine student understanding;
Guide next steps of instruction;
Provides differentiated instruction
Provide meaningful feedback to stakeholders

14. “You can enhance or destroy students’ desire to succeed in school more quickly and permanently through your use of assessment than with any other tools you have at your disposal.”
Rick Stiggins, Assessment Trainers Institute