1. Using Formative Assessment and Feedback to Improve Student Learning: A Tool for New and Early Career Teachers
Kimberly Thomas, Ed.S.

2. Purpose Describe a program for preparing early career teachers
Discuss formative and summative assessment
Explain learning targets
Explain the alignment between assessment, learning targets, benchmarks, and instruction
Discuss the Lesson Architect
Share examples from teachers using the Lesson Architect

3. ACP (Alternative Certification Program)
Is a nine month program
Based on the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAPS)
Focuses on
classroom management
sound instructional planning/design
Designed collaboratively with UWF and three regional school districts (Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa)
Provides pathway to certification for non-certified teachers employed by three districts

4. ACP Create portfolios using assignments
Provide specific feedback to each student on each assignment
Includes Competency 2 of Florida Reading Endorsement
Award certification upon
successful completion of program
passing three Florida certification exams
Can be awarded 6 credit hours toward online M.Ed. at UWF
Over 400 students have successfully completed the program

5. The Process

6. Formative and Summative Assessment

7. Formative and Summative Assessments
Formative Assessments
Coaching students to hit a series of learning targets to achieve the final learning targets
Making students a partner in their learning
Descriptive feedback and part of instruction
Summative Assessments
A judgment, usually communicated by a grade or score, about how well students achieve the final learning targets
Evaluative feedback and after instruction

8. Assessor Formative Assessments Summative Assessments Teacher
Students as self-assessors of their status on the learning target
Peers of students as part of the instructional activity
Summative Assessments
Teacher only

9. Assessment Tools
Formative Assessments (Descriptive and Part of the Instruction)
Selected response test as part of instruction
Performance assessment as part of instruction
Verbal communication on an instructional task students complete during class or for homework
Written communication on an instructional task students complete during class or for homework
Questioning techniques
Minute paper
Red, Green, Yellow
Etc.
Summative Assessments (Evaluative)
Selected response test (multiple choice, true false, matching, fill-in-the-blank)
Performance assessment (writing, speaking, producing, etc.)

10. What do results tell us?
Results tell us about the quality of our process. As part of our process we
Must have measurable goals (learning targets) that are clearly communicated to students
Must have good tools (summative assessments) that are clearly communicated to students to measure learning targets
Must have blocks of instruction that scaffold learning so that students can achieve the overall learning targets
Must have ways to provide continuous feedback to students on each block of instruction
Must have ways to help them when they are not achieving a particular block of instruction
Must create ways to harvest the wins when they achieve each step of the way

11. What does the research say about getting results?
FEEDBACK and COMMUNICATION OF EXPECTATIONS ARE IMPORTANT

12. Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam (1998) synthesis of the research
Students of teachers using formative assessments to coach students to achieve the learning targets scored higher on standardized tests than those students of teachers who did not practice this assessment approach.
The biggest gains occurred with the lowest performing students.

13. More from a teacher…
A teacher in a British secondary school conducted an experiment. She assessed students in writing in three classes in this way
She provided a grade only.
She provided a grade and narrative feedback.
She provided feedback only.
What students scored the highest on the end of year writing assessment?

14. 3 to 1 3 compliments 1 criticism Positive! 2 to 1 2 compliments
Neutral
1 to 1
1 compliment
1 criticism
Negative
Source: Tom Connellan, “Inside the Magic Kingdom”, pgs 91-95

15. What else do results tell us?
Results tell us how well our students have achieved the overall learning targets.
So, why are we assessing?

16. Learning Targets

17. What are Learning Targets?
Define what students will know and be able to do when they complete a lesson.
Should be written to align to benchmarks for each lesson.
Should include a capability verb and action item.
May stem from benchmarks.
apply letter-sound knowledge to decode unknown words quickly and accurately in context

18. Qualities of Sound Learning Targets
Capability Verb
* Describes the type and level of performance
* Verb indicates the skill you will be assessing
* Examples-state, identify, infer, compare
* Non-examples-know, understand, think
Action Item
* Describes what action students will do
______ the steps of the scientific method
______ the letter “A”

19. Learning Targets
How do we write them in clear and measurable terms? [Bloom’s capability verbs]
Measurable
Measure one thing
Build from simplest to most difficult
How do we apply learning targets?

20. Reading Learning Target
Main Idea – How can we chuck this skill?
Knowledge
Define main idea.
Define supporting details.
Given a passage, identify the main idea.
Given a passage, identify the supporting details.
Reasoning
Explain why the ___, is the main idea of the passage.
Distinguish between the main idea and the supporting details in a passage.
After reading a passage without a main idea, re-write the paragraph to include a main idea.
Given three passages, evaluate each to determine the paragraphs that include a main idea.

21. More Examples of Learning Targets
Recognize the qualities of a good learning target.
Using capability verbs and action items, create learning targets.
Define the content of a given standard.
State what it means to “chunk” or scaffold instruction.
Transform standards into learning targets that scaffold instruction.

22. How do we determine results?
Weekly Learning Targets
Use summative assessments to judge student performance.
Include summative assessments in student’s grade.
Learning Targets
Use summative assessments (benchmark tests and/or performance assessments) on all weekly learning targets.
Include summative assessments in a student’s grade – consider weighting the benchmark assessment higher or replacing other grades with this assessment in your grading process if students demonstrate higher scores at the benchmarking time.

23. How do we get results?
From our weekly learning targets we create daily learning targets
Scaffold the building blocks of learning.
Coach students by providing continuous feedback to help them correct mistakes and harvest their wins along the way. [Remember 3 to 1.]
Use formative assessments to determine how well students are doing.

24. Instruction

25. Aligning the Pieces

26. Chunking or Scaffolding Instruction
Determine what students need to know at various levels before achieving a learning target at a higher level.
For example, if you want students to be able to apply the scientific method to solve a “real” word problem, students would need to be able to
* define each component of the scientific method
* describe how each component connects to the other, and
* distinguish when the scientific method has been applied correctly.

27. Using the Lesson Architect
How do we get results?
Using the Lesson Architect
lessonarchitect.uwf.edu

28. Examples from the Lesson Architect
LT: Identify the use of poetic devices in song lyrics.
Benchmark: Analyze poetry for the ways on which poets inspire the readers to share emotions such as the use of imagery, personification, and figures of speech, including simile and metaphor; and the use of sound, such as rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and alliteration.
Assessment: Group discussion, rubric, and self assessment.
Instruction: Review previous lesson (Intro to Poetry); read lyrics to popular song; allow students to guess author, poetic devices, and meaning of poem; class discussion; listen to song to gain deeper meaning.

29. Examples from the Lesson Architect
LT: Define non-contact forces.
Benchmark: Knows that many forces act at a distance.
Assessment: Vocabulary pretest, anticipation guide, lesson quiz.
Instruction: Review previous day’s instruction, take vocabulary pretest, complete anticipation guide in groups, discuss vocabulary terms and content, teacher demonstration of concepts.

30. What Have We Learned?
An effective teacher is determined by how well our students achieve. We must
Determine when and how to use formative and summative assessments.
Coach students to succeed by providing continuous feedback on how they achieve each block of instruction and harvest their wins using 3 to 1.
Create weekly learning targets that direct how we develop our daily learning targets.
Create clear ways to measure the weekly learning targets and communicate the learning targets and how they will be measured to students.
Create building blocks of instruction that align to the daily learning targets, standards, and assessment.

31. Institute for Innovative Community Learning
Questions?
Kimberly Thomas
Institute for Innovative Community Learning