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The key elements of formative assessment and its principal purpose
Description of the purpose and characteristics of formative assessments
Description of the purpose and characteristics of formative assessments
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Part III: Conclusion and Recommendations 3.1. Conclusion remarks Formative assessment plays an important role in teaching and learning process. Firstly, formative assessment is applied to clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions and criteria for success. Secondly, formative assessment also helps to engineer classroom activities that elicit evidence of learning. Thirdly, formative assessment can provide feedback that moves students forward. Fourthly, formative assessment is used to activate students as instructional resources for one another and as owners of their own learning. Finally, formative assessment can help teachers adjust and improve their teaching. There are really some obstacles in applying formative assessment to English major students, for instance, teachers are not familiar with formative assessment, students feel bored or stressed and so on. However, teachers should actively use formative assessment to assess their students’ learning in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning process. 3.2. Recommendations Formative assessment is a planned process in which teachers or students use assessment-based evidence to adjust what they are currently doing. From the point of view mentioned above, we Teachers' skills in drawing inferences from students' responses are crucial to the effectiveness of formative assessment. No matter what the assessment strategy -- observation, dialogue, asking for a demonstration or a written response -- teachers must examine students' responses from the perspective of what they show about their conceptions, misconceptions, skills, and knowledge. This involves a careful analysis of the responses in relation to the criteria for success. In essence, teachers need to infer what the "just right gap" is between the current learning and desired goals, identifying students' emerging understanding or skills so that they can build on these by modifying instruction to facilitate
Formative Assessment- There are a number of formative assessment that are used. The first one is the list created on the first day after reading the passage along with student participation on sharing their findings the following day on day two. Student participation in day six when sharing their papers and the write up of a peer’s paper will be used for a formative assessment. All of these are graded on accuracy and completion and will be worth five points each.
Elwood, J. (2006). Formative assessment: possibilities, boundaries and limitations. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 215-232, doi:10.1080/09695940600708653
Formative assessment to inform instruction and guide student learning is being underutilized. Many students are not given feedback that is effective in helping them see where they are in regard to reaching the learning goals or that provides plan for moving them forward to achieve that goal. Students are not always given the opportunity to take an active role in the learning process by regularly assessing themselves and their peers as they work to achieve their learning goals. The purpose of this study is to determine how the use of formative assessment with immediate feedback using student response systems will impact student learning. This study will also investigate the effect that student involvement in self-evaluation has on learning.
Although somewhat vague compared to summative assessment, several key features help frame formative assessment. First, formative assessment happens while learning is taking place as opposed to at the end of content delivery. Rather, this is considered “assessment for learning,” (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012, pg. 5). The format is formal or informal, but the outcome in its use is an in-progress check of what students know and what students do not know. Chappuis, Stiggins, Chappuis, and Arter (2012) define formative assessment as, “Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning,” (pg. 24). Second, this type of assessment is used to make instructional strategy adjustments. If student learning did not happen via one instructional method, the teacher must make the necessary accommodations to reteach the concept or skill. Next, it is not only used by teachers for feedback on instruction, but formative assessment is also used for providing timely, descriptive feedback to students and extends to allow for student self-assessment (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012; Popham, 2008). Formative assessment provides opportunity to provide specific feedback to students on where they are currently in their learning, and where they should be headed.
However, a formative assessment is ongoing and is used to check for students’ understanding throughout a lesson. Both work samples “matched learning objectives” and I was able to identify the students’ strength and weaknesses. I was also able to “analyze assessment data to understand patterns and gaps in learning” to guide my future instructions. In the word problem assessment, I recognized where the student was struggling and gave “effective and descriptive feedback” to address the area that she needs work in.
Black, Paul. (2003). The Nature and Value of Formative Assessment for Learning. Improving Schools. 6 (3) 7-22
Garrison, C., & Ehringhaus, M. (2007). Formative and summative assessments in the classroom. . Retrieved October 15, 2011, from Association for Middle Level Education: http://www.amle.org/Publications/WebExclusive/Assessment/tabid/1120/Default.aspx
Formative assessment provides continual feedback for learning and making changes to your teaching plans to assure students’ success. For the most part formative assessment tasks are not always written or scored, these functions are only used to gain information on the pupils’ ability to master the skills required. Summative assessment is evaluating and documenting learning. Teachers use summative tasks to assess and document what students have learned. This term is used to record students’ achievements and ability to meet the standards at the end of a unit or course in the form of a cumulative written or performance test. These tests measure overall achievements of norms after skills have been mastered. With the documentation of these results, teachers can determine how well they have taught the curriculum. Using these assessments makes the Circle of Learning (Teaching-Learning-Assessment Cycle) become an important part for teachers to be able to determine if students have met the standards and objectives. At this point, a teacher must have a clear idea what each standard means, including how it can and will be assessed. Teachers should monitor individual student achievement in each relevant standard and be able to determine if any changes to lesson plans need to be
A formative assessment is an assessment that truly informs instruction. It can be formal or informal, provides feedback, low level vs. high level and allows for instructional changes to be made (McMillan, J. H., 2014). The definition of a formative assessment in the article of “Attributes of Effective Formative Assessment” “is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes” (CCSSO, 2008). In this weeks recommended readings I found that formative assessments and monitoring progress go hand-in-hand. Educators and administrators can monitor and assess students learning and progress daily using ongoing
“Assessments are a powerful tool that can be constructed and used by teachers to improve student learning.” (Ho...
Formative assessment is the process of assessing while the task is being performed or while the information is being taught to the students (Brookhart & Nitko, 2015, p. 141). This means that assessment happens through every stage of teaching. There is much debate between educators and non-educators alike on what is the best form of formative assessment to give. There are teachers that believe most formative assessment should be graded so they give motivation to students where others believe that the best formative assessment happens through observations, short discussions, or quizzes that are not graded. The best thing to do is find the best way implement formative assessment.
Cauley, K.H. & McMillan, J.H. (2009). Formative assessment techniques to support student motivation and achievement. Clearing House, 83(1), 1-6.
I started with a formative assessment on pre-vocabulary of the reading. I had the students define the words and then use them in a meaningful sentence. The next formative assessment was given by having the students answer text dependent questions as productive group work.
As teachers, we have to monitor the progress our students make each day, week, quarter and year. Classroom assessments are one of the most crucial educational tools for teachers. When assessments are properly developed and interpreted, they can help teachers better understand their students learning progress and needs, by providing the resources to collect evidence that indicates what information their students know and what skills they can perform. Assessments help teachers to not only identify and monitor learners’ strengths, weaknesses, learning and progress but also help them to better plan and conduct instruction. For these reasons, ongoing classroom assessment is the glue that binds teaching and learning together and allows educators to monitor their efficacy and student learning.
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a