Module 2: Formative Assessment: High-quality discussions between school leaders and teachers about formative assessment processes

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Version 1.0 | Updated January 2022 | Developed By:�Carla Evans & Jeri Thompson�National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment

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Micro-Course 3:

Supporting teachers to accelerate learning using formative assessment processes in the classroom

Warm-Up

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If you were to ask teachers what they need in order to use formative assessment information to monitor/adjust their instruction and improve student learning, what do you think they would they say they need the most?

What Do Teachers Need Most

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• This is a complex question and one that likely varies within and across schools and districts.
• However, it is likely that teachers will mention something about: time...

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Time to do what? to make sense of the data; to collaborate and discuss with other grade level/content area teachers; to confer with students; other...

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School Structures

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There are many school structures that can provide teachers with more TIME to collaborate, work together, and process student thinking together.

• common planning time
• professional learning communities
• grade level meetings
• professional development sessions

Tools & Resources

1. Student work analysis protocol
2. Formative assessment discussion tool for school leaders
3. Professional learning about the art of conferring with students

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In this module, we are going to discuss a few tools and resources that can be used by school leaders to support teachers in using formative assessment information to monitor/adjust instruction and improve student learning.

Student Work Analysis

• Student work provides a window into how students construct meaning of key concepts and skills.
• By analyzing and interpreting student work through a clear and systematic process, teachers can improve instructional decisions for individuals and groups of students, and ultimately impact student achievement.

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Student Work Analysis Process

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Download Tool: Student Work Analysis Protocol

Discussion Tool for School Leaders

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School leaders can use this tool in at least two ways.

1. During classroom observations to focus attention on one or more of the embedded formative assessment strategies. The key questions can be used as prompts for school leaders, highlighting the types of evidence to look for during the classroom observation with respect to each of the formative assessment strategies.
2. During informal discussions or professional development with a teacher or groups of teachers about the types of formative assessment practices they use in their classrooms related to each of the five embedded formative assessment strategies. The gathered information could be synthesized and shared across teachers in a school (or district) to promote innovation and best practices.

See Module 1 for Additional Details

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Each of the five embedded formative assessment strategies is explained.

The key questions are listed on the slides for each strategy in gray boxes.

Potential observed or discussed practices are provided for each of the five embedded formative assessment strategies.

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What might a teacher do?

Another Supporter

Overly prescriptive grading policies can work at cross purposes with formative best practices. Examples of what to do/not do:

• Do not: Require teachers to enter a certain number of grades/week or quarter for each student.
• Do: Encourage teachers to provide written comments on assessments used for formative purposes rather than grades. And not include formative assessments in gradebooks!

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Professional Learning about Art of Student Conferrals

Conferring is a conversation with a purpose. We center our actions on genuine curiosity toward student thinking instead of focusing on students’ behavior, the assignment, or the answer.

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Munson, J. (2018). In the moment: Conferring in the elementary math classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Conferring as Formative Assessment Data

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The Conferring Process

Interpret:

•Where are students in a continuum of understanding?

•What strategies are students trying?

•What are they struggling with and why?

•Where are they in their process?

Elicit student thinking to make it visible and probe reasoning:

• Beyond what students did to why they did it and why it makes sense.

Nudge student thinking or work forward

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Eliciting & Probing Starter Questions

Download the starter questions taken from Jen Munson’s book, In the Moment.

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Active Listening

With all this talk about the conferring process—teachers may ask: Am I eliciting, probing, or nudging? Who cares! Remember to help teachers keep the main thing the main thing. And active listening is one of the keys to help a teacher stay focused on what is truly important in terms of moving student thinking forward.

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Wait time after asking a question so that students have the time and space to come up with a response.

Ask students to “say more” about what they tell you. And repeat what they say to check that you’re hearing them correctly.

Ask questions to elicit student thinking: what students understand, do not yet understand, misunderstand, what they are trying to figure out, etc.

Productive Stances & Roles

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Setting the Conditions

Not all tasks are the same for eliciting student thinking or making student thinking visible:

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•Rich instructional performance tasks

•Open-ended problems with multiple solutions

•Tasks that elicit application of disciplinary practices

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Micro-Course 3 Outline

Module 1

• Accelerating Learning: Supporting high-quality formative assessments in the classroom

Module 2

• Accelerating Learning: High-quality discussions between school leaders and teachers about formative assessment processes

Module 3

• Accelerating Learning: Supporting teachers as they create or select formative assessments during or after instruction

Module 4

• Accelerating Learning: Supporting teachers as they involve students and their peers in the formative assessment process

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Introduction

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Module 4

Reflection Questions

1. Explain a couple ways that you can support teachers to make appropriate decisions that improve instruction and student learning?
2. To what extent does your school have structures in place to promote teacher collaboration? What changes, if any, would you like to work towards in this respect?
3. How could you help teachers use student work analysis to monitor/adjust their future instruction?
4. How could you use teacher observations/evaluations and professional development to promote teacher use of formative assessment information?
5. What is one key takeaway and one lingering question you have after listening to this module?

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