ollie-afe-2019: Article: Attributes from Effective Formative Assessment (CCSSO) - 0 views
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Because the formative assessment process helps students achieve intended learning outcomes based on explicit learning progressions, teachers must first identify and then communicate the instructional goal to students.
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alisauter on 10 Apr 19The reason Learning Targets are so important to establish and communicate. -
kmolitor on 12 Apr 19Articulating goals in student friendly language is important so students know what the target is. -
barbkfoster on 13 Apr 19As our district moves forward to standards-based learning/grading, we need to change our mindset. Students need to see learning as more important that "getting a good grade'. We can help this process by sharing the learning targets with them. -
jennham on 13 Apr 19In order for the students to see that the learning is more important than the grade, educators also need to make that shift in thinking. As my son starts applying to colleges, it seems to be ALL about his grades. I know many of my sons' teachers also feel that getting a good grade is the end result. I think students as a whole would be more receptive to how much they have learned if their teachers modeled that as well. -
annott on 16 Apr 19This is where the rubric comes into play. Students need to know or see what they will be evaluated on for the final product. I really like the idea of having students create their own rubric.
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Effective formative assessment involves collecting evidence about how student learning is progressing during the course of instruction so that necessary instructional adjustments can be made to close the gap between students’ current understanding and the desired goals. Formative assessment is not an adjunct to teaching but, rather, integrated into instruction and learning with teachers and students receiving frequent feedback.
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People think this can be "scripted" but it really can't. Formative assessment CHANGES the teaching and learning processes to meet the needs of the learners. It is fluid.
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and I think it is difficult to say that formative assessment can close the gap. Imagine if classrooms waited for everyone to get something before moving on. Formative assessment is more beneficial, in my opinion, in small groups. If 90% of kids get an exit ticket correct, the class will likely move on. Even though we know that 10% don't get it. -
In an ideal situation you would move on, but the 10% would receive additional instruction in order to learn and understand what they didn't before. The trick is to find the time to do that. Every time we find time in order to make this happen it seems to get snatched up by something else that we need to do.
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This is something we can been discussing a great deal and whether we should include it in our grade books...with or without points and we do not give credit for formative assessments.
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In self-assessment, students reflect on and monitor their learning using clearly explicated criteria for success.
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I agree but if we did it more and across the curriculum we could help them all become better at it.
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I find that kids are often more critical of themselves than I would be. Maybe it's false modesty, but when I've had students do a post-writing reflection or log, most of the time they think their writing is crap and they struggled more than I say in class. That is often eye opening since we think we know what happens in our classrooms, but it shouldn't be a surprise that students - like teachers - are experts at hiding their struggles.
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Creating such a culture requires teachers to model these behaviors during interactions with students, to actively teach the classroom norms, and to build the students’ skills in constructive self- and peer-assessment. In this type of classroom culture, students will more likely feel they are collaborators with their teacher and peers in the learning process.
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This reminds me of the routines you have to build with elementary students each fall for things like centers, bell ringers, daily 5, etc. Even blended and flipped learning needs routines visited and revisited at the beginning.
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This is why I love the math curriculum I am using. The main focus is collaboration. Everyday students are expected to come up and share their work on how they solved the problem. Students enjoy learning from their classmates. -
It's interesting to me that in elementary we spend the time to create a culture, but many teachers ignore this in the secondary classroom.
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Increasing numbers of educators regard formative assessment as a way not only to improve student learning, but also to increase student scores on significant achievement examinations.
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It is worrisome to me that the focus seems to be more on increasing student standardized test scores than increasing student learning/understanding. Which is better for the student in the long run? -
an agreed concern.....so much focus on standardized scores has changed focus to results instead of learning -
Do standardized tests provide value to our students, really? Cant say they do. Formative assessment is for guiding the teacher and student to learn, not take a test.
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From a learning progression teachers have the big picture of what students need to learn, as well as sufficient detail for planning instruction to meet short-term goals.
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This is why it is important to begin each assignment with the end in mind. What do we want students to learn, how will we measure that learning, and how to we get there?
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Agreed. From a person interested in the content and the learning of their students this makes sense. From a practical perspective, I think a large portion of students would not find any value in this. I would guess over 50% would not read it and would not use it. Now, as a teacher, I can say you should have read this to know how to improve, that isn't a practical solution though. I think that has to come from application and purposeful relevancy.
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This is a great idea. I would love to get some of these set up. A great tool to use with students.
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Descriptive feedback should be about the particular qualities of student learning with discussion or suggestions about what the student can do to improve. It should avoid comparisons with other pupils. Specific, timely feedback should be based on the learning goal and criteria for success. It should help the student answer three basic questions: Where am I going? Where am I now? How can I close the gap?
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It is of the utmost importance to make sure that students are only comparing their work to their prior efforts, as opposed to comparing their work to that of other students.
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I like the last 3 questions of the paragraph. Great questions for me to ask. It would be a nice way to have the students reflect after a test as well.
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I agree Matt, these questions can help students reflect on their learning, and it would be great to have all teachers use them so it becomes second nature to students.
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I notice the word "timely". This is SO important but also so hard to do with teachers' workloads. Does anyone have something that works for both the teacher and student?
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I love this idea from Caitlin Tucker: https://catlintucker.com/2019/02/ask-yourself-why-am-i-grading-this/ So much of what we grade does not require a grade. Maybe if we make this adjustment, our work load would decrease.
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Alternatively, feedback could be given using a format such as “two stars and a wish,” which provides a structure for a student to identify two aspects of the work that are particularly strong (stars) and one aspect the peer might improve (a wish).
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I really like this idea, as it focuses on what students are doing well. It is much easier to take constructive criticism when it is couched with praise.
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I really like this idea as well! Phrasing it as "a wish" will be easier for the creator of the project to hear, but will also be easier for the evaluator to give. I know I have students who constantly say,"You don't need to change anything," not because they think that is true, but because they do not want to bruise anyone's feelings.
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Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.
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Notice the definition does not say that formative assessments can't be graded. I am a proponent of grading formative assessments, but I have heard others say it should not be. -
I think Evan mentioned this in one of his video chats. He talked about the value of not grading the formative assessment but using it to enhance classroom discussion. Would this work in a math classroom? -
This is an excellent point. My first reaction was No! Don't grade it! But then I thought about the chapter reading quizzes I would give. In some ways these were formative because I wanted to see if students understood the chapter in the novel. In others, it was summative in that I wanted to hold students accountable for the reading. I did grade them. Hmmm...Interesting -
I think it is so interesting to consider not grading formative assessments. I feel like every time I give an assignment to students the first question they ask is "Will this go on my grade?"
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I think many times we ask students during a lesson, to give a number of fingers as to whether you understand what we just shared. And I had done that for many years, but never knew it was called formative assessment until a few years ago.
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I really enjoy that formative assessment can be done in so many different ways (verbally, a quiz, practice problems, exit tickets, review games, etc.....) I do get where Trevor is coming from though......very much a grade centric focus instead of a learning focus
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Exactly we need to get away from grading everything as we may not have taught the content in way that ll can learn. Use FA to guide instruction and improve student learning.
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five attributes
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1. Learning Progressions 2. Learning Goals 3. Descriptive Feedback 4. Self- and Peer-Assessment 5. Collaboration
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Descriptive Feedback:
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This is by far the most important part of formative assessment for students. Teachers need to provide timely, informative feedback, so that students can learn from their mistakes.
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Agreed! The feedback piece is the most important by far, and you mentioned how important it is to have it in a timely manner!
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Self- and Peer-Assessment
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Peer assessment is the most difficult for all parties involved. It is difficult for students to critique each other's work appropriately and it is difficult for students to receive feedback from peers. It is also difficult for teachers to model appropriate behaviors for peer assessment.
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I agree. It is always hard to get students to do this the right way. The idea behind it is awesome though, if you could somehow get students to appropriately evaluate their classmates work.
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The students must be actively involved in the systematic process intended to improve their learning. The process requires the teacher to share learning goals with students and provide opportunities for students to monitor their ongoing progress.
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I like this idea about students having an active process. This would be very valuable for both the student and teacher. If the student has more of an active process by setting goals and monitoring them I feel they would have sense of ownership in the process. Very powerful when they feel this way.
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I agree. I think it would increase student ownership of the learning process. -
Totally agree! Student choice and voice is an important piece that I think we miss out on frequently in education
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To support both self- and peer-assessment, the teacher must provide structure and support so students learn to be reflective of their own work and that of their peers, allowing them to provide meaningful and constructive feedback.
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This is something that I need to do a better job of. I've thought about using math journals where students could reflect on on their own work and that of their peers when peer evaluating. The lack of time is the excuse.
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It's not an excuse; it's a reality. When you have over 100 students, it's impossible to give them as much attention as you would like.
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This will provide students with a reasonably clear idea of the analytic skills they are to develop and also provide them with the tools required to assess their own written analyses.
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Hopefully being careful that students are not just regurgitating information. Sometimes I think we get wrapped up in getting content and skills across we don't notice ourselves spoon feeding.
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This involves moving from the early stages of reasoning based on simple observation to the more complex stages based on indirect observation and the synthesis of multiple sources of information.
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Which happens at different times for different students. Some may have already accomplished it while others need more scaffolding to achieve it.
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True! I think these kinds of complex skills are exactly the ones that might be worth the time for formal formative feedback so students and teachers see who has it and who doesn't.
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A classroom culture in which teachers and students are partners in learning should be established.
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Honestly, I forget this part the most of the 5 categories. I am not the CEO, but more a manager.
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I agree! However that quote goes "Students don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."
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I think this might be most important attribute of all. Culture and climate are so important. Kids will work hard for you even if they don't want to do the project if you have a good relationship with them.
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without dissent:
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Amazing to me that no one disagreed. Worries me about groupthink occurring at that meeting. I'm not saying I disagree with the definition, but that really amazes me there was no dissent.
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I imagine if people were at a meeting about formative assessment, they would all be on the same page to begin with. I imagine this was merely a wordsmithing session and less of deliberate one.
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is to provide evidence that is used by teachers
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depending on what I'm looking for, formative assessment can sometimes be more effective for just me. Often my students don't really know (or care) where they are in the grand scheme of things, but I need to know so I can determine our course.
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I did have students use their comprehension quizzes as a formative assessment. If they did not get 8/10, I had them write a note on the quiz as to why. Did they just not do the reading? Did the read it while multi-tasking? Did they read it but just not get it? I was hoping to make them aware of their learning and why it was not where it should be when considering reading comprehension of a novel. But then, maybe I should not have graded it??
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a process rather than a particular kind of assessment.
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This is where it gets difficult for me sometimes. The recursive aspect is difficult when dealing with a common course that is supposed to stay on track with other sections led by other teachers. Having the ability to be flexible with instruction is essential, but when "aligned" with other teachers, that flexibility can be constrained.
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informal observations and conversations to purposefully planned instructionally embedded techniques designed to elicit evidence of student learning
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Many teachers do a lot of formative assessment in the way of observation, listening, even questioning. In an online setting, this is the part that harder. But as standards move more to skills and concepts rather than just knowledge, those "embedded techniques" might be a piece that's missing. Many times when students "miss the mark" on the test, it's because there was a disconnect in what they thought they were supposed to know or lack of feedback on what they were supposed to do.
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offers enough substantive information to allow the student an opportunity to identify ways to move learning forward.
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The use of models here is the key though. Sometimes this info isn't enough if they have seen or heard many speeches that do this (and most kids haven't).
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As a former writing teacher, I never doubted the power of the feedback. The problem was finding the time. I could not read 100+ papers twice: once formative and second summative. It was a struggle to provide the feedback they needed and survive the job.
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I teach Math so I can't imagine what it is like trying to provide timely feedback for writing assignments. I think it's hard enough to do it with math homework when the student is missing a piece of the equation or something.
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they can take an active role in planning, monitoring, and evaluating their own progress.
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I've always felt that one of the biggest benefits of peer-assessment has nothing to do with the feedback--it has to do with perspective. When a student sees how another student approached a writing prompt or a problem or a process, it allows them to look differently at their own work. If the only thing students ever see is the the teacher's thinking and their own, it can limit their understanding.
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supporting students as they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning
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This is something almost all teachers would like more of, but it's hard for students to do that if we don't give them the success criteria, vocabulary, and feedback to help them be more independent in reaching our expectations.
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a formative tes
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I always wonder about this when I hear teachers saying that they are using plc time to develop "common formative assessments".
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You have a valid point Deborah. Should we have common formative assessments or not? According to this article it's an ongoing process throughout a lesson and should be adaptive to each teacher.
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I think it is one more item in education we do not have time to create...common formative assessments.
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teachers and students
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Shouldn't all teaching and learning involve educators and students? lol.
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I feel that all too often teachers think of weekly quizzes as formative assessment. Unfortunately, those weekly quizzes are often not used to adjust teaching. This definition says it is a PROCESS. I don't think many teachers think of it that way.
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meta-cognitively
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Asking students to think metacognatively about learning will hopefully make them more efficient learners in the future.
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Learning Goals and Criteria for Success: Learning goals and criteria for success should be clearly identified and communicated to students.
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While I am not in classrooms very often, almost all of them do this. I feel like this is something that teachers have made a real effort to do.
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Agreed. However, in my experience, most students don't care. It is kind of like showing them standards. Even in kid friendly language, they largely don't care. I think this article brings up lots of good information, but the reality of practice is much different than the reality of the folks coming up with these things.
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Formative assessments gives teachers the checkpoints of learning with their students. It informs their instruction of what to do next.
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I like how this clarifies that there are many different types of formative assessments.
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and show the trajectory of learning along which students are expected to progress
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As I learn more about scaffolding, I think that is a good way to cover learning progression.
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evidence-based feedback
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ha ha ha...again a reality of practice. You can't reliably do this for 150 kids and every formative assessment. What about the informal formative assessments? Technology can help with this, but again it has to be setup to do so.
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I think you bring up a valid point. We really need to spend the time giving feedback, but I am wondering what is the difference between informal vs formal feedback. I have seen teachers use an "autopsy" after certain assignments so major issues are address large group. Often students tend to make similar mistakes.
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Giving feed back to every student is all most impossible to do in a timely matter if you 100+ students. I like the idea of addressing major mistakes as a large group because like Megan said most times multiple students make the same mistake or have the same problem.
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involving students in decisions about how to move learning forward are illustrations of students and teachers working together in the teaching and learning process.
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teachers and students
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In addition to communicating the nature of the instructional goal, teachers must provide the criteria by which learning will be assessed so that students will know whether they are successfully progressing toward the goal. This information should be communicated using language readily understood by students, and may be accompanied by realistic examples of those that meet and do not meet the criteria.
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How is this best accomplished? Does using an "I can" statement at the start of a math lesson accomplish this goal? I tend to think my students are not really interested in these statements. This also seems to feel like a time consuming requirement for a teacher. I feel a time crunch with just getting the lesson taught and giving kids a little work time in class.
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We are going down this road in more detail in our district now with SBG and rubrics are essential to learning and the communication to students.
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Helping students think meta-cognitively about their own learning fosters the idea that learning is their responsibility
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I need to include more opportunities for this as I think it is really important for students to take ownership of their learning.
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I've always tried to do this as I teach high school math. I love that math has a right answer but there are multiple ways to get it. I always tell students that we are filling their "toolbox" as we learn strategies to solving problems. Ultimately, though, it is up to them to make sense of what "tool" works best for them.
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However, for students to be actively and successfully involved in their own learning, they must feel that they are bona fide partners in the learning process.
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I think this sounds right but is it attainable with all students? Or more importantly how is it attainable. Several of my students come to mind that really don't express a desire to learn Algebra or Geometry and I have not been successful in changing that attitude!
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This is very doable, I think, when working with adult learners in a PD environment.
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I feel that is is doable, but I also feel it will be an uphill battle all the way with some students. It is very hard to overcome, in one week or month or year, the baggage some kids bring with them. However, this isn't a new struggle to us or to them. Anything and everything that helps them to succeed is what we will do!
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Jen, YES! It takes time for our students to trust us to build a partnership. We need to realize that trust is built one small moment at a time.
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Interesting...I have never heard of this group nor heard of this initiative. Education is a complex world
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short-term goals to keep track of how well their students’ learning is moving forward.
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Learning progressions are a great way to scaffold and have those checkpoints to see where students are at and help identify where students need assistance.
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I agree that checkpoints or formative assessments during a learning progression are extremely important. Without, a student could easily go through the motions and when it came to the summative assessment they would completely fail.
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inform instruction and learning
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I think there are constant examples of assessment informing instruction in classrooms. I find it interesting the formal formative assessment argument seems to hold water but informal or on the fly decisions in a classroom are not typically seen as quality modifications due to formative assessment since they are not done with hard data, but rather subjective data.
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A teacher needs to have modeled good feedback with students and talked about what acceptable and unacceptable comments look like in order to have created a safe learning environment.
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Modeling is, of course, always the most effective, but how do we move students beyond just copying the model? I find most of my upper level, grade-grubbing, high-achieving students will stop taking intellectual risks the more I model. They don't want to be "wrong" so they play it safe.
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Sharing learning goals and criteria for success with students
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The teacher might first offer students a paraphrased version of that goal such as, “You will be able to judge the strengths and weaknesses of arguments in the editorials you find in our daily newspapers.” The teacher would discuss the criteria for evaluating arguments and then provide several examples of critiques of political essays
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I think its a good idea to show students some sort of example of what you are expecting from them. Especially if its the first time you try something in your class.
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Both self- and peer-assessment are important
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I think both self and peer assessment are a great idea. It's always good for student to self reflect on their work but its also good for them to hear feedback from classmates instead of just the teacher all the time.
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Peer reflection and peer learning to me is almost as valuable as teacher reflection. I think students learn better from peers than teachers in lots of situations because students can explain in their own language
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inform and adjust instruction
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I see a disconnect in utilization of formative assessment data to adjust instruction in elementary compared to secondary classrooms. K-5 teachers seem to be more knowledgable and willing to change instruction where secondary teachers struggle. Perhaps it's the number of students or race against the curriculum map, but I have observed that formative assessment data may come back showing poor understanding, but teachers keep moving forward.
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The success criterion that the teacher gives them is, “Include any properties or rules that may apply in your explanation.”
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As I read this example I think about how this activity could be put online. You could easily to a screencast or Flipgrid "think-a-loud" to explain thinking and meet the criteria of the teacher. This could be done individually or in a small group.
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Students then need time to reflect on the feedback they have received to make changes or improvements.
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I think this is a missed opportunity in classes. It is important to build in time to reflect, becuase students may not review this on their own. I thinking it's equally important to model what self reflection looks like and how it can be used to improve outcomes. It's just another layer of scaffolding.
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investigate the past from a range of sources of information,
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This is how I get my students excited about inquiries. They get to play detective and have fun with the information that they are diving into.
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in increasingly sophisticated ways
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This is where I allow my students to work on their own and really challenge themselves. This idea that a student can progress on their own gives them a sense of ownership and ability to make their own path.
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provide an explanation
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I love this! I do something similar when it comes to quick writes in my class. The first quick write that we do, I take a great, a good, and a needs work. I post all three of them (without names) and then go over why we think as a class each got the score they did. Great way to build skills.
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self-reflective b
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Self-reflection is huge! Now that we are moving towards SBG, I have tried working in more and more self-reflection into my rubrics. I want them thinking about what they did. On all my essays, they go through the rubric first and determine their score and add comments as to why they think they should get that score and then I go in after and grade and we can sort of compare.
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