Group items tagged

One key feature of this definition is its requirement that formative assessment be regarded as a process rather than a particular kind of assessment.

There has been substantial interest in formative assessment among U.S. educators during recent years. 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.

during

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.

opportunities for students to monitor their ongoing progress.

involve both teachers and students

With this kind of descriptive feedback and collaboration, the teacher clarifies the goal for the student, provides specific information about where the student is in relation to meeting the criteria, and offers enough substantive information to allow the student an opportunity to identify ways to move learning forward.

helping students to provide constructive feedback to each other

process requires the teacher to share learning goals with students

evidence-based feedback that is linked to the intended instructional outcomes

Students can use a rubric to provide feedback to a peer by articulating reasons why a piece of work is at one level and discussing how it could be improved to move it to the next level.

adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.

collecting evidence

cators representing approximately 2

From a learning progression teachers have the big picture of what students need to learn,

Students build on this learning in later stages of the progression to develop an understanding that people represent and interpret the past in different ways (e.g., through pictures, plays, films, reconstructions, museum displays, and fiction and nonfiction accounts), and that the interpretations reflect the intentions of those who make them (e.g., writers, archaeologists, historians, and filmmakers). A goal for students at each level of the progression would be to investigate a set of artifacts in increasingly sophisticated ways to extract information about a particular period or event in history. Not only would such investigations support the students’ development of historical reasoning, they would also provide evidence of the students’ ability to reason in increasingly complex ways. 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. Using the evidence elicited from such tasks connected to the goals of the progression, a teacher could identify the “just right gap” – a growth point in learning that involves a step that is neither too large nor too small – and make adjustments to instruction accordingly.

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.

in a sixth grade math class students working in groups

A grade of D+

Teachers should design the assessment so students can use the results to self-assess and set goals.

benchmark,

including students

plan

the instructional hours sacrificed to testing will return dividends in the form of better instructional decisions

students to track their own progress

develop coordinated plans

decisions

the use of multiple measures does not, by itself, translate into high-quality evidence.

it's important to know the learning targets represented in the written curriculum

The goal of a balanced assessment system is to ensure that all assessment users have access to the data they want when they need it, which in turn directly serves the effective use of multiple measures.

Use a reading score from a state accountability test as a diagnostic instrument for reading group placement. Use SAT scores to determine instructional effectiveness. Rely solely on performance assessments to test factual knowledge and recall. Assess learning targets requiring the "doing" of science with a multiple-choice test.

testing

Performance skill targets

Teachers have choices in the assessment methods they use,

Clear Purpose

Teachers have choices in the assessment methods they use, including selected-response formats, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication. Selecting an assessment method that is incapable of reflecting the intended learning will compromise the accuracy of the results.

This key relates directly back to the purpose of the assessment.

From a formative point of view, decision makers at the classroom assessment level need evidence of where students are on the learning continuum toward each standard,

not only are they limited in key formative uses, but they also cannot measure more complex learning targets at the heart of instruction.

Given the rise in testing, especially in light of a heightened focus on using multiple measures

the assessment formatively—as practice or to inform students about their own progress

it's important to know the learning targets represented in the written curriculum.

highlight crucial words (for instance, most, least, except, not).

it is not capable of informing the student about the next steps in learning.

better instructional decisions and improved high-stakes test scores.

four categories of learning targets

erode accurate results

Annual state and local district standardized tests serve annual accountability purposes, provide comparable data, and serve functions related to student placement and selection, guidance, progress monitoring, and program evaluation

will be capable of informing sound decisions.

Teachers should design the assessment so students can use the results to self-assess and set goals.

all available assessment methods

enable them to immediately take action

affect individuals and groups of students on the basis of a single measure is part of our past and current practice.

assessments

cultural insensitivity.

clear and understandable to everyone, including students

Reasoning targets

appropriate balance of points in relation to the importance of each target

For each assessment, regardless of purpose, the assessor should organize the learning targets represented in the assessment into a written test plan that matches the learning targets represented in the curriculum.

The classroom is also a practical location to give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do, adding to the accuracy of the information available from that level of assessment.

quality and balance

e assessor must begin with a clear picture of why he or she is conducting the assessment. Who will use the results to inform what decisions? The assessor might use the assessment formatively

Do the results provide clear direction for what to do next?

At the level of annual state/district standardized assessments, they involve where and how teachers can improve instruction—next year.

Inherent in its design is the need for all assessors and users of assessment results to be assessment literate—to know what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate uses of assessment results—thereby reducing the risk of applying data to decisions for which they aren't suited.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

assessment literate—to know what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate uses of assessment results

Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning.

teachers must provide the results in a way that helps students move forward.

Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning.

In General

What did you wish to see in the course (and it wasn’t there)?

If you could change one specific thing, what would that be?

Which topics do you wish were more in-depth?

Have you applied anything that you have learned? Why or why not?

What was the most useful thing that you have learned?

Did you connect with other learners (sharing resources, ideas)? Why or why not?

Were there any moments when you felt frustrated? Why?