Module 1: Formative Assessment Processes and Learning Acceleration (Advanced)

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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 2:

Learning Acceleration Using Formative Assessment Processes in the Classroom (Advanced Version)

Warm-Up

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What are the first words that come to mind when you think of the words

“formative assessment”?

Defining Formative Assessment Process

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“…a planned, ongoing process used by all students and teachers during learning and teaching to elicit and use evidence of student learning to improve student understanding of intended disciplinary learning outcomes and support students to become self-directed learners.”

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Council of Chief State School Officers (2018, p. 2). Revising the Definition of Formative Assessment. Retrieved from https://ccsso.org/resource-library/revising-definition-formative-assessment

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Two Main Types of Classroom Assessment Processes

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Misconception Alert

• Assessments are not formative or summative by design, they are formative or summative based on use.
• The same exit ticket, quiz, test, or performance task can be used summatively or formatively (as long as student thinking is made visible and students are involved in the process).

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Embedded Formative Assessment Strategies

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Wiliam, D. (2018). Embedded formative assessment, 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Embedded Formative Assessment Strategies

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Wiliam, D. (2018). Embedded formative assessment, 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Big Idea:

“Evidence about student learning is used to adjust instruction to better meet students’ needs. In other words, teaching is adaptive to the learner’s needs.”

Connection to Learning Acceleration

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End of Unit

Learning Goals

Learning Intentions & Success Criteria

The learning goals, sometimes called “learning targets,” should be aligned to and derived from the broader curricular goals and state standards.

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What will my students be trying to learn? What does success, or hitting the target, look like?

• Make sure students are aware of what they are trying to learn and the success criteria.

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Elicit Evidence of Student Learning

There’s both the for what purpose and how components of eliciting evidence of student learning for formative purposes.

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Identify student learning strengths/needs before, during, and/or after instruction.

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Inform future instruction and differentiated instruction by making student thinking visible.

Formative assessment practices that can be plugged into any curriculum:

• 60 Formative Assessment Techniques
• Formative Assessment Classroom Protocols and Strategies

Engineer effective classroom discussions, tasks, activities, and observations.

Misconception Alert

• Formative assessment data has no appropriate use in student evaluation such as student grades.
• Numerous studies have shown that when students see a grade on their paper along with comments, they only look at the grade.
• Grading can also have harmful effects on student motivation and future learning.

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Feedback that Moves Learning Forward

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Peers as Learning Resources

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“You never really understand something until you try to teach it to someone else.”(Wiliam, 2018, p. 166)

Students as Owners of their own Learning

“For students to be actively involved in their learning, they must understand a learning goal, aim for it, and use assessment evidence along the way to stay on course” (p. 3).

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Three formative assessment questions:

• Where am I going?
• Where am I now?
• What do I need to do next?

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Brookhart, S., & Lazarus, S. (2017). Formative assessment for students with disabilities. Washington, DC: Council of Chief State School Officers.

Connected to self-regulated learning (e.g., metacognition and motivation)

Metacognition

• Metacognition, or “thinking about one’s own thinking,” is the internal dialogue taking place in the mind of a learner.
• Teachers support students as active agents in this process when they think-aloud and model for students what they are thinking so students can hear their internal dialogue and internalize that process for themselves over time.

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Examples of Aligned Teacher Practices

There are many ways a teacher can demonstrate these formative assessment strategies.

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The follow resource provides a set of rubrics that qualitatively describe what a teacher might do along a continuum related to each formative assessment process:

• Rubrics for the implementation formative assessment processes (pages 37-71)

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Remembering the Systems Component

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Formative assessment processes operate within a classroom assessment and instructional system.

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Shepard, L. A. (2019). Classroom assessment to support teaching and learning. In The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (pp. 183–200). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0002716219843818

Going Deeper: Micro-Course 2

Module 1

• Overview: Formative assessment processes and learning acceleration (Advanced)

Module 2

• Where the learner is going: Clarifying, sharing, and understanding learning intentions and success criteria

Module 3

• How to get there: Providing feedback that moves student learning forward

Module 4

• Closing the gap, Part 2: Involving students and their peers in the formative assessment process

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Reflection Questions

1. Create a web or concept map that explains the formative assessment process.
2. Describe a couple ways in which your formative assessment practices could shift as a result of listening to this module .
3. Think about an area of performance you tried to improve in recent years (e.g., writing, cooking, etc.). What type of feedback contributed to your improved performance? How does that relate to what was discussed in this module with respect to the quality and type of feedback that is more/less useful?
4. Explain how formative assessment processes operate within a classroom assessment and instructional system.
5. What is one key takeaway and one lingering question you have after listening to this module?

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For Additional Reading…

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