What Weve Learned About Assessment, Part 4: A Guide to Formative Assessment

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What Weve Learned About Assessment, Part 4 A
Guide to Formative Assessment

• Astrid Fossum, Mathematics Teaching Specialist,
  MPS, fossumag_at_milwaukee.k12.wi.us
• Sharonda M. Harris, Curriculum and Instruction
  Math Supervisor, MPS, harrissm_at_milwaukee.k12.wi.us
  
• www.mmp.uwm.edu

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In this session participants will

• Explore a professional development model used to
  inform classroom instruction.
• Examine how district leaders are working with
  teachers to support the use of formative
  assessments in mathematics.
• Engage in writing effective descriptive feedback.

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Research

• Improved formative assessment helps low
  achievers more than other students and reduces
  the range of achievement while raising
  achievement overall.
• Firm evidence shows that formative assessment is
  an essential component of classroom work and that
  its development can raise standards of
  achievement.
• Black, P. Wiliam, D (1998). Inside the
  Black Box Raising Standards through
  classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan,
  808(2), 139-148.

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Comprehensive Mathematics Framework
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CABS Identifier Natalie and her sister

• Natalie has 25 and her sister has 13. How
  much money should Natalie give to her sister so
  that they both have the same amount?
• Answer______________
• Show how you know your answer is correct.

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District Learning Targets

• MPS Learning Target 1 Grade 4, Number
  Operations and Relationships
• Use strategies fluently to make estimates, solve,
  and pose real-world problems (e.g., single and
  multi-step) for all operations, to compare and
  rename numbers, and to find factors and
  multiples.

• MPS Learning Target 2 Grade 4, Number
  Operations and Relationships
• Represent commonly used fractions (e.g.,
  pictures, number lines) and decimals (i.e.,
  money) and use informal reasoning to rename,
  compare, add and subtract them with and without
  context.

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Wisconsin Assessment Framework for Mathematics

• Sub-skill Descriptors Computation
• Use all operations in everyday situations to
  solve single or multi-step word problems.
• Add and subtract decimals in the context of
  money.

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CABS Class Summary Report
Description of Assessment
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CABS Identifier Natalie and her sister

• Natalie has 25 and her sister has 13. How
  much money should Natalie give to her sister so
  that they both have the same amount?
• Answer______________
• Show how you know your answer is correct.

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Directions

• Complete the prompt in two different ways
• 1.) Provide an example of a student with a solid
  understanding of the mathematics
• 2.) Provide an example of a student with a
  misconception you anticipate or have seen.

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Description of Assessment
CABS Assessment Overview After working through
the assessment, reflect on what you expect
students to do. Complete the following table
before developing your descriptive feedback.

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Types of Feedback
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Student Feedback Summary
Description of Assessment

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Description of Assessment
CABS Class Summary Report
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CABS Assessment OverviewAfter working through
the assessment, reflect on what you expect
students to do. Complete the following table
before developing your descriptive feedback.
Description of Assessment
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Successes

• Teacher
• Conversations around student work
• Identify different student strategies
• Increased understanding of formative assessment
• Instructional decisions based on identified
  misconceptions and challenges
• Descriptive Feedback can save on re-teaching time

• Student
• Increased achievement
• Ability to clear up misconceptions on second
  attempts, without re-teaching/intervention
• Self-reflection on ways to improve their work
• Increased involvement in self-assessment

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Challenges

• Teacher
• Buy-In
• Time commitment
• Record-keeping
• Grading
• Redundancy

• Student
• Interpretation of the feedback
• Looking for a grade
• Lack of motivation

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Next steps

• Continue the practice of looking at student work.
• Investigate the use of an effective system to
  capture student growth in mathematics.
• Support classroom teachers to use student work as
  a resource for differentiation.

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Research

• Achievement gains are maximized in context where
  educators increase the accuracy of classroom
  assessments, provide students with frequent
  informative feedback, and involve students deeply
  in the classroom assessment, record keeping, and
  communication process. In short, these gains are
  maximized where teachers apply the principles of
  assessment for learning.
• Stiggins, 2005

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Resources

• Brookhart, S.M., (2007). Feedback That Fits.
  Educational Leadership, 65(4), 54-59.
• Stiggins, R.J., Arter, J., Chappuis, J.,
  Chappuis, S. (2005). Assessment FOR Learning An
  Action Guide for School Leaders. Portland, OR
  Assessment Training Institute.
• Wiggins, G., McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding
  by Design. Alexandria, VA Association for
  Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• Black, P., Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black
  box Raising standards through assessment. Phi
  Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-148.
• The Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership (MMP), an
  initiative of the Milwaukee Partnership Academy
  (MPA), is supported with funding from the
  National Science Foundation under Grant No.
  EHR-0314898