1. What is formative assessment?
Formative assessment is informal assessment that occurs during a lesson to aid learning, rather than assessment given after a lesson to measure learning. Formative assessment also evaluates learning, but it takes the form of comments, feedback, and tools that help students evaluate their learning more effectively, such as a rubric, rather than a letter grade. Formative assessment can also take the form of skill-building activities that focus on specific goals such as writing a rough draft that uses transitions well and is well organized.
2. What is the CENTRAL purpose of formative assessment?
The central purpose of formative assessment is to put the student at the center of learning by giving them opportunities to evaluate their learning more effectively, see how their own work matches a given learning goals, and understand and monitor their own learning.
Formative assessment can be connected to the research-based strategy of “Summarizing and Note-taking” because formative assessment works best when it is focused, specific, and helps the students monitor their own learning. Filling in Guided notes as they read can help students identify the main points and give them a clear outline to focus on, which will make expectations for the material to be learned clearer and more specific, and allow students to monitor their own learning.
4. Give an example of how a specific assessment can be used formatively and summatively.
A rubric is a tool that can be used formatively by listing criteria for evaluating a specific lesson to help students understand what is expected, and summatively by serving as a basis for assigning grades.
5. Give an example from your field placement related to formative assessment and timing.
In my field placement, when working on a lesson with material that is familiar to students (such as pencil drawing) my host teacher and I always wait a few minutes after explaining an assignment and passing out materials so students have a chance to brainstorm and come up with their own ideas before walking around the room and giving individual help and suggestions. If we immediately bombarded them with examples, they would likely just use the ideas shown rather than their own. However, if we are introducing a new material (such as embossing foil) we will first provide ample demonstrations and examples, and make ourselves immediately available to clarify expectations and techniques until the students feel confident with the material so they do not become overwhelmed.
6. What are some strategies to help formative assessment be more effective when providing students with feedback?
A strategy to make student feedback more effective is to focus on the task rather than the student. A teacher should not praise the students’ talent, but the specific ways that they performed strongly. Feedback should also include detail, but be offered in manageable amounts so the student can absorb what is being said.
7. Name two advantages to high quality formative assessment.
Formative assessment can lead to improved instruction that addresses student learning by helping teachers to identify students who are struggling and the areas they are having difficulty. It can also encourage student self-awareness, on-task behavior, and motivation because it gives students a feeling of confidence and control.
8. What are some challenges to implementing high quality formative assessment?
One challenge to implementing formative assessment is making sure it is truly high-quality formative assessment. Since research shows that many teachers do not know how to include high- quality formative assessment, policy makers should affirm the features of successful formative assessment, and include provisions for professional development in this area. Another challenge is to support teachers who do engage in formative assessment, because uniformed individuals may be suspicious of its use in the classroom. Policy makers and teachers both should take steps to inform parents and the community about formative assessment in their classroom strategies and document evidence of its success to avoid misunderstandings and to generate public support of high-quality learning.
Source
National Council of Teachers of English,. (2010). Fostering high quality formative assessment: A policy brief national council of teachers of english. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CC/0201-sep2010/CC0201PolicyBrief.pdf
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