Formative%20Assessment

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Formative Assessment
Debbie Owens AMSP University of Kentucky Kathy Strunk AMSP University of Tennessee
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Activity 1 - Brainstorm

• Why do you assess your students?
• How do you currently assess your students?

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Session Target Goals

• Participants will
• articulate the differences between formative
• summative assessment
• recognize the impact of effective formative
• assessment
• describe and provide examples of how to
  effectively
• use the five keys to quality assessment
• use three guiding questions to ensure that
  students
• are informed and involved in the assessment
• process

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Activity 2 - Card Sort

• Prepare a chart with two columns, label one
  column Formative and the other column
  Summative
• Sort the cards and place each one under the most
  appropriate heading in your chart

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PART ONE

• Engage
• Explore
• Explain

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Activity 3 - Magnets

• Work in groups of 4
• Three people are students and will complete the
  activity.
• One person (the teacher) is responsible for
  assessing student learning.

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Magnet Instructions

• Set up the materials as shown.
• Determine the relationship between the number of
  weights and the number of magnets.

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Teachers ????

• What do your students know?
• How did you find out what they know?
• Whats your evidence?

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Students ????

• What did you learn?
• How do you know?
• What feedback would you like from the teacher?

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• FIVE KEYS
• TO
• QUALITY
• ASSESSMENT

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Why assess students?

• To gather evidence of student learning
• To inform instruction
• To motivate students and increase student
  achievement

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• Identify the Purpose
• Who will use it?
• How will it be used?

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What do I want them to know?
STANDARDS
UNIT GOALS
TARGETS
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• Clarify the Targets
• Deconstruct standards
• Are they clear to the students?

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(No Transcript)
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PART TWO

• Elaborate / Extend
• Evaluate

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Demonstration
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Three Guiding Questions

• 1
• Where am I going?

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• FIVE KEYS
• TO
• QUALITY
• ASSESSMENT

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The Five Keys So Far

• Identify the Purpose
• Clarify the Target

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How Will I Know When They Know It?

• What method should I choose?
• Is it written well?
• Is the sample size appropriate?
• Are there sources of bias in it?

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• Use Sound Design
• Method?
• Sample?
• Quality?
• Bias?

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Activity 4 - Temperature

• Discuss Activity
• Clarify Targets
• Prediction
• Demonstration
• Feedback
• Corrections

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• Provide Effective Feedback
• The best feedback is
• Descriptive
• Specific
• Relevant
• Timely
• Empowering

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Three Guiding Questions

• 2 - Where am I now?
• 3 - How do I close the gap?

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Activity 5 - Floating

• Prediction
• Demonstration
• Clarify Purpose and Targets
• Partner Exploration
• Feedback

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Think/Pair/Share

• How effective were you at giving feedback?
• What could you do differently to make it more
  effective?

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Involve Students

• Peer Assessment
• Self-assessment

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??? to ask before assessing

• Why am I assessing?
• What do I want my students to know?
• How will I find out if they know it?
• How will I communicate the results of my
  assessment?
• Who should be involved?

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In Other Words

• Clarify your purpose.
• Define your target goals.
• Design your plan - what tool(s) will I use to
  determine if students have met the goals?
• Provide feedback to encourage learning (Do No
  Harm!)
• Involve students in their own assessment.

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The 5 Keys and the Guiding Questions
Identify the Purpose
Clarify the Targets
Use a Sound Design
Provide Effective Feedback
Involve Students
Where am I going?
Where am I now? How do I get there?
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Shifts in Assessment
To assessing to learn what students
understand To using results to inform
instruction To students engaged in ongoing
assessment of their work and others To
descriptive feedback that empowers and motivates
students
From assessing to learn what students do not
know From using results to calculate
grades From end-of-term assessments by
teachers From judgmental feedback that may harm
student motivation
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Why these shifts in assessment?

• A change in the mission of schools
• A shift from a focus on sorting and ranking
• students to a focus on leaving no child behind.
• A strong research base
• Evidence of the substantial impact on student
  achievement

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• Change focus from what you put into it, to what
  students get out of it.
• Dylan Wiliam
• Formative Assessment evolves through continual
  action research it is not another initiative.
• Shirley Clarke

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SELF-EVALUATION

• Follow the directions on the handout Determining
  Where I am Now
• Record your Ratings for 1-9 on the separate
  answer sheet
• Wait for directions from a facilitator

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Professional Development Basics

• Change begins with disequilibrium.
• Teacher networks can be powerful.
• Teachers need proof that it works in the
  classroom.
• Understanding deepens when the teacher
  experiences it in a real context.
• Innovation is risky.
• Schools that promote effective professional
  development also encourage experimentation.
• Change without reflection is often shallow and
  incompetent.
• Adapted from Classroom Assessment and the
  National Science Education Standards