Fostering High Quality Formative Assessment

What is formative assessment?

Formative assessment is the feedback students receive—timely, specific, and task-focused—from teachers or other adults, peers, or through structured self-assessment, not the absence of grades, that makes formative assessment high-quality.

What is the CENTRAL purpose of formative assessment?

The central purpose of formative assessment is always putting student learning at the center.

Connect a best practice in formative assessment to one research-based strategy.

An example of connecting formative assessment with a research-based strategy would be providing feedback. To use formative assessment, the teacher could provide feedback to the students work or leave comments to allow the student to understand what needs changed or fixed.

Give an example of how a specific assessment can be used formatively and summatively.

An example of how a specific assessment can be used both formatively and summatively is the use of a rubric. The rubric allows student to know what is expected of them and lists criteria that needs to be included in the assignment (formative) and the rubric can be used summatively to assign a grade to the project.

Give an example from your field placement related to formative assessment and timing.

An example from my field placement that is related to formative assessment is step-by-step projects. In Business Computer Applications I, the students work on step-by-step projects. The instructions clearly describe how the project should be completed and the students know exactly what is expected from them.

What are some strategies to help formative assessment be more effective when providing students with feedback?

Some strategies that help formative assessment be more effective when providing students with feedback include:

• Emphasize the quality rather than the quantity of student work
• Prize giving advice and guidance over giving grades 
• Avoid comparing students in favor of enabling individual students to assess their own learning
• Foster dialogues that explore understandings rather than lectures that present information
• Encourage multiple iterations of an assessment cycle, each focused on a few issues
• Provide feedback that engenders motivation and leads to improvement

Name two advantages to high quality formative assessment.

Two advantages to high quality formative assessment are helping teachers identify students who are struggling with particular tasks or operating under misconceptions and fosters student motivation, on-task behavior, and self- awareness.

 

What are some challenges to implementing high quality formative assessment?

Some challenges to implementing high quality formative assessment are distinguishing between high-quality formative assessment and assessment that is under-conceptualized or not fully developed and developing mechanisms of support for teachers who employ high-quality formative assessment in their classrooms.