Assessment
Ways to do Formative
Assessment
- Index Cards
- Observation
- Portfolio Check
- Think-Pair-Share
- Exit Cards
- Self-Assessment
- Student Conference
- Misconception Check
- Web or Concept Map
- Portfolio Check
What you can do with the Results
- Examine the percentage of students who "got" the material
- Create pairs/small groups for re-teaching a new way.
- Examine student thinking behind the answers and re-teach.
- Co-teaching groups
- Enrichment opportunities
a) 2
b) 2.2
c) 2.5
d) 3
How might a student respond? What was the student thinking if they answered a. . . b. . . c. . . . d. . . ? What will you do with the results?
Formative
assessment is about
identifying all those activities undertaken by teachers --
and by their students in assessing themselves -- that
provide information to be used as feedback to modify
teaching and learning activities. Such assessment
becomes formative
assessment when the
evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching to meet
student needs.
–
Black and Wiliam
Fundamental
aspects of formative assessment include:
- Identifying Learning Targets – these targets must be made accessible to students
- Student Self Assessment – knowing where they are in the learning progression with respect to the learning targets
- Actionable Feedback for Learning – feedback on student work and thinking must be meaningful and allow for students to act on the feedback.
- Formative Questioning –teachers know how to ask questions that lead to further discussion and class learning
- Using Assessment to Adjust Instruction – information gained must be used to adjust future teaching strategies.
Let’s take a look at some resources that support formative assessment.
Self Assessment Strategies
It is critical that students know how to assess their own progress, and that they can do so with respect to the class learning targets. This ability to self-evaluate is powerful and can have significant impact on student performance.
Seven strategies that support self assessment in your classroom
Feedback for Learning
Nearly everyone can agree on the value of high-quality feedback for learning and the impact it has on student understanding. The following are a few techniques that can be used in the classroom to elevate the quality of teacher feedback from simple grading to more meaningful and actionable types of information.
Comment-only Marking
The teacher provides only comments—no grades—on student work, in order to get students to focus on how to improve, instead of their grade or rank in the class. This will more likely pay off if the comments are specific to the qualities of the work and are designed to promote thinking and provide clear guidance on what to do to improve. Consistently writing good comments that make students think is not easy to do, so it is a good idea to practice this technique with other teachers for ideas and feedback. Furthermore, the likelihood of student follow-through is greatly increased if there are established routines and time provided in class for students to revise and improve the work.
More support for comment only marking
Three Minute Student Conferences
If you confer with students as a way to offer feedback on their work, consider asking them to do some thinking prior to meeting with you. Identify a focus for the feedback—narrow it, if needed. Have them focus on only a few aspects of quality. Before they meet with you, have students use the scoring guide to identify what aspects of quality are present in a particular piece of work. Have them follow the same procedure to identify one or two aspects of quality they think need work. Offer your feedback. If you agree, it’s simple. If you can, point out a strength the student overlooked. Add to or modify what the student needs to work on, if needed. Ask students to take their own and your opinions into account and decide what to do next. If your students have practiced giving formative feedback, encourage students to use each other as feedback providers.
Adapted from “Learning Techniques” Article by Measured Progress
Article – Praise Can Be Dangerous
Using Assessment to Adjust Instruction
Teachers can’t wait for unit test scores to determine the level of student understanding, but need to be continuously checking student learning and adjusting classroom instruction as necessary.
Exit Cards
Exit cards are a quick assessment tool for teachers to help them become more aware of student understanding of concepts taught. Exit cards are written student responses to questions posed at the end of a class or learning activity or at the end of a day. They may be used at any grade level and every subject area.
Support site with examples of exit card questions
Concept Mapping
Concept maps create graphical representations of various ideas and can be used to both clarify student thinking and provide quick information to guide the a teachers next instructional decisions.
Support site with examples of concept maps
Updated 2-5-09