Formative Assessment in Flanders

1
Formative Assessment in Flanders

• Second Chance Learning
• in Hoboken

2
Background on Second Chance Education

• Second chance education schools are a small part
  of adult social advancement education in
  Flanders.
• Their goal has remained unchanged for many years
  to enable adults (18 years and older) to obtain
  the certificate of the second stage of secondary
  education or, at the completion of the third
  stage, a diploma of secondary education.

3
Second Chance Schools aim to

• Help students through vocational and technical
  courses, and in other ways, to provide better job
  opportunities
• Prepare students for continuing and
  post-secondary courses and
• Enable students to attain self-respect through
  attaining a diploma.

4
Length of Enrollment in Second Chance Schools

• Some students may achieve their goals in a few
  months or a year.
• Others, especially those who can only attend two
  or three evenings a week and who have family and
  work responsibilities, may take two-to-five
  years.

5
Hoboken Second Chance School

• An independent, autonomous school
• For 18 years students went to Brussels each year
  to take the diploma exam.
• In 1999, second chance schools were given the
  authority to award diplomas on their own, which
  provided this school with an opportunity to
  re-examine its practices.

6

• Largest of 13 second chance schools, it serves
  around 600 students annually
• Good performance record in terms of subject
  completion rates
• Average student age of 25
• Recent shift toward18-21 year old population, now
  50 of the students, and from once nearly
  all-female, to a balance in gender
• 50 teachers, administrators and other staff
  including two school psychologists.

7
Moving from Summative to Formative Assessment and
School Transformation

• Headmasters idea, four years ago, that formative
  assessment was the way to drive education reform
• Planning process began two years ago with an
  alternative education working group, a small
  thinking group of teachers who met weekly to
  plan for the change

8
Summative to Formative Assessment

• This group guided and coordinated the school to
  develop the new assessment process and
  instruments.
• Twice-monthly, two-hour workshops, seminars and
  meetings in which the entire school staff
  participated
• Teachers tried out the new processes and
  instruments.

9

• Nearly everything built from scratch course
  goals, competencies, and formative assessment
  tools
• Staff met monthly to review formative
  assessments, and results from piloting them.
• There was a lot of excitement, but many teachers
  said they were overwhelmed.
• Most teachers changed their way of teaching.

10

• Moved from focus on preparing for tests
  (memorizing facts and knowledge) to focus on
  learning (reasoning, analyzing, interpreting,
  predicting, applying)
• Teachers became less a sage on a stage, more a
  guide by the side.
• Assessment now includes peer evaluation, student
  progress folders, and feedback in relation to
  students goals.
• Assessment is accompanied by counseling and
  individual coaching.

11
Early Results of the Experiment

• Not everyone likes the changes, not all teachers,
  not all students.
• Formative assessment is too much work.
• Many students (and teachers) like it because they
  know exactly where they are, what they have and
  havent learned, and what they have to do next to
  achieve their goals.

12
Early Results

• Focus of the school is on the learning process
• Beginning with goals and objectives, each course
  is now entirely competency-based.
• Systematic regular feedback on goals and
  objectives throughout each course, with
  assessments as stepping stones
• No grades or rankings, instead 1) not
  sufficient, 2) almost sufficient, 3) sufficient,
  and 4) more than sufficient and widespread use
  of rubrics

13
What Students Think About This

• Formative assessment more work than just taking a
  test at the end
• However, more learning takes place.
• More opportunities to do things over, do them
  better
• More self-paced than traditional classes

14
What Students Think

• Learning-to-learn/study skills course helps
  students learn useful tools such as mind maps,
  outlining, narrative summaries, and an effective
  study pal relationship
• Fear of Failure course also helpful

15
What is Formative Assessment in this Context?
According to the teachers

• A way to evaluate the process of learning, one in
  which teachers evaluate students, and students
  evaluate themselves and each other
• A strategy to motivate students, to engage them
  in figuring out what and how they are learning

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Formative Assessment Includes

• ? Exercises (oral presentations, group work and
  written exercises)
• ? Criteria Lists (ratings using the four
  sufficiency categories)
• ? Student peer evaluation
• ? Performance assessment
• ? Evaluative discussion
• ? Students involved in setting the criteria for
  evaluation

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• Ongoing evaluation
• Guiding students through learning sessions,
• Regularly giving them a lot of feedback,
• Making clear the goals and objectives of each
  course
• Focusing on the process, not the product
• Teachers knowing who gets it and who doesnt
• Teachers using information to improve instruction
• A learning process that is like the world of work
• More accountable students have to know things,
  cant just get lucky on the test

18
Teacher Reflection on the Transformation of the
School

• Teachers think it is working, that education is
  focusing on learning, not just a test.
• They wish they had had examples from other
  schools, that they didnt have to create this
  from scratch.
• Some wish it could have been piloted first.
• It doesnt work for all students, however.

19
Questions for Further Study

• Is this a good (the best) lever for program
  change?
• What will be the outcomes for students over time?
• Is there a difference, over time, in how students
  feel about learning?