What have
you learned about formative assessments from using them?
Elementary and Middle School teachers and specialists from Lafayette and the East Baton Rouge Parish School District and Math - Science Partnership Project come together with Page Keeley on May 13, 2014 to
learn about formative assessment in mathematics using probes from the Uncovering Student Thinking in Mathemetics and strategies from Mathematics Formative Assessment.
Not exact matches
My observations of the Finnish education system match those of Kurt and Gavin's: it's
about quality teachers, personalised
learning and
formative assessment.
More importantly on the back - end, decisions
about the underlying technology architecture and standards for data / content transport will also have implications for both the vendor marketplace and integration of all sorts of other data systems (reporting, analytics, student information systems,
formative assessments, content repositories,
learning management systems, etc.).
With all the education action around Standards - Based Instruction, Understanding By Design,
Assessment for
Learning, Grading for
Learning, Project - Based
Learning, Competency - Based Instruction and more, we need to have a frank conversation
about formative assessment and grading.
I've written in the past
about how embracing competency - based
learning could allow us to break the false tradeoffs between summative and
formative assessments and allow us to embrace «moderating»
assessments that would serve both purposes.
On Top of the News Grand Test Auto: The End of Testing Washington Monthly May / June 2012 Behind the Headline Future Schools Education Next Summer 2011 In a special issue of the Washington Monthly, Bill Tucker writes
about «stealth
assessment,» the use of
formative assessments built into the
learning process which allow teachers to keep -LSB-...]
Invest in these easy - to - use, no prep
formative assessment templates to gather information on your students»
learning about insects.
As Heritage (2008) explains, «The purpose of
formative assessment is to provide feedback to teachers and students during the course of
learning about the gap between students» current and desired performance so that action can be taken to close the gap.»
The review phase of
learning is all
about formative assessment and provides an opportunity to reconnect to the lesson's
learning targets.
If teachers want to differentiate instruction, they need to use
formative assessments to
learn about students» interests and to check for understanding.
A lot has been written
about on - going,
formative assessments, but my favorite resource is Checking for Understanding by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey This book is a quick and easy read, very accessible and full of dozens of ways to thoughtfully and systematically monitor student
learning.
Pratt and her team set
about looking at research around school improvement and decided to focus on differentiated teaching and
learning, supported by
formative assessment.
Read our new blog post to
learn about how technology tools for
formative assessment can help you better personalize instruction to meet the needs of your students.
(Varied
Assessments) Continuous, authentic, and appropriate
assessment measures, including both
formative and summative ones, provide evidence
about every student's
learning progress.
The reader will
learn about creating
learning targets through
assessment, how to utilize
formative assessment for the whole
learning process, uncover myths
about differentiation and walk away with one of the most invaluable lesson we can all stand to
learn - the importance of the learner's voice in the process.
Formative assessment is
about informing teaching and
learning.
As we work with districts on establishing professional goal - setting processes, we often hear from teachers and principals that they are unsure
about what kinds of
formative assessments of students»
learning they should use to set and assess their professional goals related to instructional practice.
By adding scales to our classroom practice, we can easily use the
formative assessments to provide specific feedback to students
about their progression toward the
learning goal.
Because
formative assessment strategies and techniques produce so much information
about student
learning,
formative assessment experts must be adept at recognizing which information is critical evidence for moving teaching and
learning forward and which information is not.
Accomplished
formative assessment teachers work fluently and automatically within the current instructional context to address students» immediate
learning needs in real time — rapidly processing evidence of student thinking and
learning, automatically considering the
learning targets, then making advantageous decisions
about the next steps of instruction to move
learning forward, sometimes with a plan B or even C in mind.
It's the use of high - quality
formative and summative
assessments that provide clear information to the teacher and the learner
about their current progress toward instructional objectives or
learning targets.
In this view, the teacher functions as an educational diagnostician who — using
formative assessment techniques instead of a stethoscope — listens carefully to student thinking; processes it against what he or she knows
about the subject at hand, how students
learn, and the goals of a lesson.
Upon identifying goals, coaches discussed and collaborated with teachers
about implementing differentiated instruction, beginning with the use of pre-
assessments and
formative assessments to determine students» readiness level, interests, and
learning preferences.
Each question is designed to force me to think carefully
about what I can
learn about my own instructional decision - making from the data that we collected on a common
formative assessment.
Teachers can develop and use
formative assessments to guide future instruction, develop individual
learning goals for students, and obtain valuable information
about the quality of the lessons being presented to students.
The resources in this channel explain what
formative assessment is, why it's important for teachers to use this approach in the classroom, and how to use
formative assessments to gather evidence
about student
learning and use this evidence to adjust teaching.
Want to have your thinking challenged
about the role that common
formative assessments should play on a professional
learning team?
Our school uses a balanced approach to
formative and summative
assessments that provide reliable, developmentally appropriate information
about student
learning.
Formative assessment, rephrased for clarity as informative
assessment, is classroom activity — from quiz to question, discussion to observation,
learning task to student feedback — that informs teachers
about their students»
learning and their own teaching.
Although educators have
learned a lot
about good
formative assessment in individual classrooms, we wondered what might happen if a school took the process schoolwide.
Here we describe what we
learned about formal
formative assessment.
So, while the debate may ensue
about the time required and benefits of standardized
assessment driven by accountability initiatives, the classroom
formative assessment — when applied as intended — can have powerful effects on teaching and
learning.
By designing the
formative assessment around the
learning targets, the resulting information is much more precise
about what the student has / has not yet
learned.
The first is that the
formative assessment must occur during the unit of instruction, and after the initial instruction,
about the essential
learning target.
Teams that engage in designing, using, and responding to common
formative assessments are more knowledgeable
about their own standards, more
assessment literate, and able to develop more strategies for helping all students
learn.
To
learn more
about how Cerling and Lee implemented common
formative assessments with their science teams, download this Naiku Case Study.
In the classroom, teachers will use
formative assessments to quickly adjust instruction based on information they are gathering in real - time
about their students»
learning.
Classrooms that engage in
formative assessment practices are ones in which teachers are explicit
about expectations for
learning and both teachers and students monitor students» work in terms of progress toward those expectations.
The purpose, then, of
formative assessment is not just to determine proficiency on a
learning target, but also to collect information from the students
about their
learning related to this target.
Wiliam and Leahy argue that we need to think carefully
about how to support teachers in developing their use of classroom
formative assessment and suggest a practical solution in teacher
learning communities (TLCs).
Participants will examine how these principles intersect with quality teaching practices, student engagement and
formative assessment to transform the way students
learn about science and phenomena.
Formative assessment involves teachers using evidence of pupils» understanding and
learning to make decisions, minute - by - minute and day - by - day,
about the next steps in teaching and
learning.
Interested in
learning more
about how Study Island and Edmentum can help support your
formative assessment goals?
Ways to model the elements of
formative assessment in conversations with teachers
about their professional
learning;
To
learn more
about how to incorporate
formative assessment in your classroom, check this post.
Using
formative assessment as a guide in teach - ing for understanding: A case study of a middle school science class
learning about sound.
Interested in
learning more
about create a culture of
formative assessment in your schools?
Now that we have had time using the program, we are working to improve our data chat process, make adjustments to the
assessments as we
learn more
about the standards, and work on using Unify to help with more frequent
formative assessments.
Enable state specialists to
learn from each other
about how different states are providing leadership to improve early childhood teacher evaluation and
formative child
assessment.