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Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment. Susan M. Brookhart, Ph.D. Duquesne University and Brookhart Enterprises, LLC Montana Office of Public Instruction Conference: “There’s More to Assessment than Testing” Helena, Montana – May, 2006. Definitions and Concepts. Formative Assessment is a cycle.

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Formative Assessment

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  1. Formative Assessment Susan M. Brookhart, Ph.D. Duquesne University and Brookhart Enterprises, LLC Montana Office of Public Instruction Conference: “There’s More to Assessment than Testing” Helena, Montana – May, 2006

  2. Definitions and Concepts

  3. Formative Assessment is a cycle Student must recognize a gap between actual and desired performance and take action to close the gap (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Sadler, 1983, 1989)

  4. Students and Teachers (1) Focus on learning goals; (2) Compare current work to the goal; and (3) Take action to move closer to the goal.

  5. Expanding concepts in the definition of Formative Assessment

  6. Relationship between Formative and Summative assessment • Not necessarily compatible • Crooks (1988) – if evaluation results in grades, students will pay less attention and learn less (also Ross, Rollheiser, & Hogaboam-Gray, 2002; Thomas & Oldfather, 1997) • Formative-summative mix: Grades are an important reason for assessment and limit the kind of assessment teachers do(Barnes, 1985; Kusch, 1999; Schmidt & Brosnan, 1996; Wilson, 1990).

  7. Relationship between Formative and Summative assessment • Not necessarily incompatible • Biggs (1998) – not “two tree trunks,” but “the backside of an elephant” (also Brookhart, 2001; Guskey, 2005) • So … it matters how the teacher handles it! • FA and SA should be linked by common learning targets.

  8. Benefits of Formative Assessment

  9. Achievement Benefits of (Good) Formative Assessment • .4 to .7 standard deviations – equivalent of moving from the 50th percentile to the 65th or 75th percentile on a standardized test • at all levels – primary, intermediate, and secondary • especially among lower achievers

  10. Achievement Benefits of (Good) Formative Assessment • Reasons for achievement effects • FA helps teachers and students identify what students can do with help and what they can do independently. • Participating in formative assessment is active learning, keeping students on task and focused on learning goals. • Formative assessment, especially peer and self evaluation, help students with the social construction of knowledge. • FA gives students feedback on precisely the points they need in order to improve. It shows them what to do next to get better.

  11. A little more complicated Feedback is a message, so it depends not only on the information itself, but also on the characteristics of the people who send (teacher) and receive (student) the message. Motivational Benefits of (Good) Formative Assessment

  12. Motivational Benefits of (Good) Formative Assessment • Students who can size up their work, figure out how close they are to their goal, and plan what they need to do to improve are, in fact, learning as they do that. • Carrying out their plans for improvement not only makes their work better, but it helps them feel in control, and that is motivating. • This process, called self-regulation, has been found to be a characteristic of successful, motivated learners.

  13. Motivational Benefits of (Good) Formative Assessment • Developmental differences – younger students may focus on surface features of work • Unsuccessful learners – first focus on the negative feelings after failure before the message can be heard

  14. Formative Assessment in Practice *** NOT for Grading

  15. Focus on learning goals • Starts with clear targets • Assignments embody learning targets for students • Content match with learning target • Cognitive process match with learning target • Clear to students • Criteria for evaluation

  16. Compare current work to the goal • Teachers or students apply criteria • It’s one thing to write a rubric; it’s another to know it when you see it! • Understand typical student learning progressions • Give good feedback • Teacher • Self-assessment • Peer assessment

  17. Take action to improve • Practice • Review (or Expand) • Reteach (or Enrich) • Individual, Group, Class • All of these communicate to students that you know where they are • And focus attention and activities on content and methods most likely to lead to increments in learning.

  18. susanbrookhart@bresnan.net brookhart@duq.edu

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