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Common Core Institute #3 Formative Assessment. Formative Assessment.
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Formative Assessment Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievements of intended instructional outcomes (FAST SCASS, October 2006)
Formative Assessment • Occurs moment-to-moment as part of instruction • Is a process used by teachers and students frequently and is embedded in the current unit of instruction • Are small scale, short cycle assessments given in the classroom to diagnose where students are in their learning (ASSESSMENT FORLEARNING--Stiggins, Arter, Chauppuis and Chauppuis, 2006)
Formative Assessment • Cannot aggregate/disaggregate and report results • Use results to provide descriptive feedback or to modify instruction • Most flexible
Formative Assessment: What It Is • A Planned Process • Ongoing • Evidence elicited through classroom assessment • Instructional Adjustments made by teachers • Learning Adjustments made by students
Formative Assessment: What It Is NOT • Unplanned • One Time or Periodic Test • Instructional Adjustments Based on Teachers’ Feelings • A Quick “Fix” or “Magic Bullet”
Formative Assessment Process ETS, 2009
Real Hourly Wages (in 2007 dollars) 1973-2005 by Level of Education Published by the Economic Policy Institute in 2010 as found in Wiliam, D. Embedded Formative Assessment. Solution Tree. May2011.
Score Gains on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children, 1947 to 2001
Change in Workplace Skill Demand in the United States (1969-1999)
Research Base for Formative Assessment Use • Recommended reading: Formative Assessment: Caveat Emptor by Lorie Shepard, ETS Invitational Conference, October 10-11, 2005 • 1967—Michael Scriven introduces the term “formative assessment” to indicate the evaluation of a program during the planning and developmental stages and making changes in the program for the purpose of improvement. • 1971—Bloom, Hastings, and Maddus introduced the idea that assessment not be used solely to make summative evaluations of student performance but to formatively evaluate learning progress at different phases of teaching, providing students with feedback and correction as a way to remediate. Greenstein, L. What Teachers Really Need to Know About Formative Assessment. ASCD, 2010.
Research Base for Formative Assessment Use • 1977—Benjamin Bloom identified two essential elements of formative learning: feedback for students and corrective conditions for all important components of learning, which led to differentiated instruction. • 1988—Terrance Crooks studied the effect of classroom assessment practices on students and asserted that classroom formative assessment is one of the most powerful forces for improving education and positively affect student motivation. • 1989—Royce Sadler found that assessment is most effective when students can monitor the quality of their own work through specific provisions that are incorporated directly into instruction. Greenstein, L. What Teachers Really Need to Know About Formative Assessment. ASCD, 2010.
Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam (1998) In 1998, Black and Wiliam published the results of a meta-analysis of over 250 research studies on classroom assessment practices entitled “Inside the Black Box.” They found firm evidence that formative assessment is an essential component of classroom work and that its development can raise standards of achievement, producing effect sizes between .4 and .7.
Findings from Black and Wiliam (1998) The research from Black and Wiliam indicates that improving learning through assessment depends on five factors: • Providing effective feedback to students. • Students’ active involvement in their own learning. • Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment. • Recognizing the profound influence of assessment on students’ motivation and self-esteem - both crucial influences on learning. • Ensuring pupils assess themselves and understand how to improve.
Supporting Research • 2004—Wiliam, Lee, Harrison, and Black, as a follow-up to Inside the Black Box, examined the achievement of secondary students in math and science who were exposed and not exposed to formative assessment and found a mean effect size of .32 when exposed to formative assessment interventions. • 2004—Ruiz-Primo and Furtak measured the effect of three formative assessment strategies—eliciting, recognizing, and using information—in the science classroom and found that the quality of teachers' formative assessment practices was positively linked to the students' level of learning. Greenstein, L. What Teachers Really Need to Know About Formative Assessment. ASCD, 2010.
Supporting Research • 2006—Robert Marzano concluded that classroom formative assessment is an effective way to plan and apply instructional interventions to close the gap. • 2007—Wiliam and Thompson found that formative assessment produces greater increases in students’ achievement than class-size reduction or increases in teachers’ content knowledge, and at a fraction of the cost. Greenstein, L. What Teachers Really Need to Know About Formative Assessment. ASCD, 2010.
Five Critical Features to Guide Educators Toward Effective Use of Formative Assessment • Learning Progressions • Learning Goals and Success Criteria • Descriptive Feedback • Self and Peer Assessment • Collaboration Heritage, M. Formative Assessment and Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Learning Progressions • Clearly articulate the trajectory along which students are expected to progress. • Descriptions in words and examples of what it means to move over time toward more expert understanding. • Depict successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about an idea that might reasonably follow one another as students learn. Heritage, M. Formative Assessment and Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Learning Progressions • Clearly articulate the key subconcepts or subskills that constitute progress toward the subcomponent of the standard. • Developed from a strong research base about the structure of knowledge in a discipline and about how learning occurs (ideally). Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Five Characteristics of Learning Trajectories/Progressions • Learning trajectories/progressions identify a particular domain and a goal level of understanding. • Learning trajectories/progressions recognize that children enter instruction with relevant yet diverse experiences that serve as effective starting points. • Learning trajectories/progressions assume a progression of cognitive states that move from simple to complex. While not linear, the progression is not random, and can be sequenced and ordered as “expected tendencies” or “likely probabilities”. Adapted from Confrey, J & Maloney, S. Learning Trajectories. Presentation provided to CCSSO FAST SCASS Collaborative. 2010.
Five Characteristics of Learning Trajectories/Progressions • Progress through a learning trajectory/progression assumes a well-ordered set of tasks (curriculum), instructional activities, interactions, tools, and reflection. • Learning trajectories/progressions are based on synthesis of existing research, further research to complete the sequences, and a validation method based on empirical study. Adapted from Confrey, J & Maloney, S. Learning Trajectories. Presentation provided to CCSSO FAST SCASS Collaborative. 2010.
Coordinating with Common Core State Standards Learning Trajectories/Progressions can serve as a boundary object to support the coordination of the Common Core State Standards, curriculum, instructional practices, and multiple forms of assessment. Adapted from Confrey, J & Maloney, S. Learning Trajectories. Presentation provided to CCSSO FAST SCASS Collaborative. 2010.
Confrey, J & Maloney, S. Learning Trajectories. Presentation provided to CCSSO FAST SCASS Collaborative. 2010.
Learning Targets and Criteria for Success • Provide the standard against which evidence is elicited, performance is compared (by both teacher and student), and feedback is generated to close the gap between current learning and desired learning goals • Learning targets identify what immediate learning is intended within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). • Success criteria are indications to the teacher and the student of the degree to which learning is moving through the ZPD toward independent achievement. • Should be clearly identified and communicated to students Heritage, M. Formative Assessment and Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) • The ZPD is the distance between what the child can accomplish during independent problem solving and the level of problem solving that can be accomplished under the guidance of an adult or in collaboration with a more expert peer. • Scaffolding characterizes the support that adults give to learners in the ZPD to move them from what they already know to what they can do next. Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Descriptive Feedback • Specific and appropriate communication to improve learning while that learning is occurring or evolving • Should focus on the particular qualities of student learning with discussion and suggestions about what the student can do to improve • Can be provided in the form of ideas, strategies, and tasks students can use to close the gap between his or her current level and the next level • Not in the form of a score or grade • Should help the student answer three questions: Where am I going? Where am I now? How can I close the gap? Heritage, M. Formative Assessment and Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Feedback • Formative assessment is designed to provide feedback at multiple levels: • Feedback to teachers about current levels of student understanding • Feedback to guide students through their own next steps Heritage, M. Formative assessment: What do teachers need to know and do? Phi Delta Kappan. October 2007.
Why Feedback? Formative assessment can enhance learning when it provides students with feedback about specific qualities of their work, and about how to improve. Black & Wiliam, 1998; Crooks, 1988; Kluger & DeNisi 1996; Natriello, 1987; Rea-Dickens, 2001; Stipek, 1996; Turnstall & Gipps, 1996 Heritage, M. Formative assessment: What do teachers need to know and do? Phi Delta Kappan. October 2007.
Use of Feedback in Closing the Gap • Teachers take steps to close the gap between the students’ current learning and the goal by: • Modifying instruction • Assessing again to give further information about learning • Modify instruction again…and repeat process • Feedback must be used by the student to improve learning in order for it to be effective in closing the gap. Heritage, M. Formative assessment: What do teachers need to know and do? Phi Delta Kappan. October 2007.
Effective Feedback • Clear, descriptive, criterion-based information that indicates: • where students are in a learning progression • how their understanding differs from the desired learning goal • how they can move forward Heritage, M. Formative assessment: What do teachers need to know and do? Phi Delta Kappan. October 2007.
Examples of Feedback That Can Have Negative Consequences • Feedback that is critical (Baron, 1993) • “This work is very poor. You have not tried hard enough.” • Feedback that is comparative and indicates a student’s standing relative to peers (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Wiliam, 2007) • “Your understanding of this idea is much weaker than the other students in the class. You will need to redo the work to catch up.” • Feedback that is vague and lacks specificity (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996) • “Next time, check your calculations.” Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Examples of Feedback That Can Have Negative Consequences • Feedback that is too complex (Kulhavy, White, Topp, Chan & Adams, 1985) • “You are not paying sufficient attention to the features of narrative in your writing. Revise your work, paying attention to the fact that the features of narrative structures can include orientation, complication, and resolution, as well as descriptions of characters and settings. You are emphasizing character and setting without employing a structure that represents the other, important features of narrative. Use all of the features I have indicated above in your next draft.” Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Examples of Feedback That Can Have Negative Consequences • Feedback that draws attention to the student rather than the task (e.g., praise for task performance) (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996) • “You are a good student. I am very pleased with you.” • Feedback provided in relation to a poorly defined goal (Hattie & Timperley, 2007) • “Write two more paragraphs.” Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Guidelines for Providing Feedback That Helps Learners Improve • Feedback should provide more information to the student relating to the task or process of learning that fills a gap between what is understood and what is aimed to be understood (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). • Feedback to students should be about the particular qualities of their work, with advice on what they can do to improve (Bangert-Drowns et. al., 1991; Black & Wiliam, 1998). • Feedback should be specific and clear and be related to the learning goals (Hoska, 1993; Song & Keller, 2001). • Feedback should provide the learner with suggestions, hints, or cues for how to improve rather than just correct answers (Bangert-Drowns et al., 1991; Butler, 1987; Kluger & DeNisi, 1996; Narciss & Huth, 2004). Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Guidelines for Providing Feedback That Helps Learners Improve • Feedback should match the student’s cognitive needs—not too complex and not too vague (Bangert-Drowns et al., 1991). • Feedback should include both verification and elaboration. Verification is the “simple judgment of whether the answer is correct and elaboration is the informational aspect of the message, providing relevant clues to guide the learner toward a correct answer”(Shute, 2008, p. 158). • Feedback should be given after a student has responded to initial instruction. In the case when no learning has occurred, it is better to continue with instruction rather than provide feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Timing of Feedback • It is better to avoid providing feedback to students while they are actively engaged in the task (Corno & Snow, 1986). • Immediate feedback (i.e., immediately after the student’s response) is better for supporting procedural or conceptual knowledge (Dihoff, Brosvic & Epstein, 2003; Corbett & Anderson, 1989, 2001). • When a student is learning a new task, immediate feedback is better (Clarianna, 1990). Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Timing of Feedback • In the case of more difficult tasks, involving greater amounts of processing, delayed feedback (i.e., feedback after several minutes, hours, or weeks) provides more opportunity for students to process (Clariana, Wagner & Rohrer-Murphy, 2000). • Low-achieving students benefit from immediate feedback, particularly when they are learning new concepts or skills they find difficult (Gaynor, 1981; Mason & Bruning, 2001). Heritage, M. Formative assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom. Corwin, 2010.
Self and Peer Assessment • Important for providing students an opportunity to think metacognitively about their learning • Students evaluate their own learning and their peers learning based upon a success criteria. • The teacher must provide structure and support so students learn to be reflective of their own work and that of their peers, allowing them to provide meaningful and constructive feedback. Heritage, M. Formative Assessment and Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Metacognition • Teaching students to self-assess so they can internalize and use criteria as they carry out their work increases both the quality of student projects and conceptual understanding (White & Frederickson, 2000) • Engaging students’ prior knowledge to support new learning and the effectiveness of focusing on principled understanding to enable transfer and knowledge generalization (Shepard, 2005) • Transfer is supported when a rich array of tasks is used for both assessment and for instruction (Shepard, 1997) Shepard, L. Formative assessment: Caveat emptor. ETS Invitational Conference. October 10-11, 2005.
Collaboration • Teachers should work together as partners with students in the learning process through: • Sharing learning goals and success criteria • Supporting students as they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning • Helping students to provide constructive feedback to each other • Involving students in decisions about how to move learning forward • Building a classroom culture of mutual trust Heritage, M. Formative Assessment and Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Formative Assessment Cycle Where am I now? Where am I going? How can I close the gap? What classroom culture is required? Heritage, M. Formative Assessment and Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Examples of Formative Assessment • A language teacher asks students to choose the best thesis statement from a selection. If all chose correctly, she moves on. If only some do, she may initiate a class discussion. If most answer incorrectly, then she may review the work on thesis statements (Wiliam, 2006).
Formative Assessment Instructional Strategies • Observations • Effective Questioning • Student Record Keeping
Observations • Go beyond walking around the room to see if students are on task or need clarification • Assist teachers in gathering evidence of student learning to inform instructional planning • Can be recorded and used as feedback for students about their learning or as anecdotal data shared with them during conferencing (evidence of learning) • Sample Techniques: • Anecdotal Notes • Observation Journal Garrison, C. & Ehringhaus, M. Formative and summative assessments in the classroom.AMLE Assessment Resources, 2007.
Effective Questioning • Is used to elicit immediate information about student learning • Allows an opportunity for deeper thinking and provides teachers with significant insight into the degree and depth of understanding [significant wait time] • Engage students in classroom dialogue that both uncovers and expands learning • Examples: • Checking for understanding (thumbs up/down, red/green cards) • Exit slips • Reflection/Analysis/Synthesis Garrison, C. & Ehringhaus, M. Formative and summative assessments in the classroom.AMLE Assessment Resources, 2007.
Student Record Keeping • Helps students better understand their own learning as evidenced by their classroom work • Not only engages students in their learning but also helps them to see where they started and the progress they are making toward achieving the learning goal Garrison, C. & Ehringhaus, M. Formative and summative assessments in the classroom.AMLE Assessment Resources, 2007.
