Putting Ideas Into Practice Assessment For Learning Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, Wiliam A Practical Application of Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment “The more you teach without finding out who understands the information and who doesn’t, the greater the likelihood that only already proficient students will succeed.” Grant Wiggins Eutopia April/May 2006

What is formative assessment? An ungraded approach to find out what students don’t know. A way to create a climate of responsible learning in students A strategy or tool used by a teacher to increase opportunities for student learning and to increase rigor A method to collect data to make informed decisions in the classroom

Informal Teaching to meet learning needs Student centered Creates a climate of active learners Part of instruction/learning not assessment What is Formative Assessment?

Formative Assessment is NOT Just another assessment in the world of accountability Meant to be graded Just one more thing to do in the classroom Something given without purpose

What changes are needed? From long feedback cycles to short feedback cycles From assessment of learning to assessment learning From quality control to quality assurance From teaching to learning From regulating activity to regulating learning

Suggestions for Action Frame questions that are worth asking Wait time has to be increased Follow up activities have to be rich Students should become more active as participants Students must discuss their own understanding

Resulting Changes Role of teacher Role of students Nature of subject knowledge Nature of learning

Why use Formative Assessment? To close the achievement gap To improve understanding To work smarter not harder To make students responsible for their learning To adjust teaching and learning To improve effective learning

Areas of Formative Assessment Questioning Feedback Sharing Learning Expectations Self Assessment and Peer Assessment Using evidence of learning to adapt instruction Adapted from Dylan Wiliam, ETS, 2006

Questioning Strategies Wait Time Mean wait time is.9 seconds Simple, closed questions with recall is common Seeking answers from brighter students is evident

Results of increasing wait time Answers from students will become longer Failure to respond decreases Responses are more confident Students challenge and/or improve the answers of other students More alternative explanations are offered Allows teacher to learn more about background knowledge, gaps, misconceptions (Questioning strategies, cont.)

Two kinds of wait time After the teacher questions and the student begins to respond After the student responds and when the teachers responds –Allow student to elaborate

Role of the Student To increase participation –Brainstorm ideas, perhaps in pairs, for 2-3 minutes before teacher asks for response No hands raised-teacher selects who will answer from entire class All participate (Questioning strategies, cont.)

Set the Scene Start a new unit with what they already know Move away from routine of limited factual questions Refocus attention on the quality and the different functions of questions Use an open question or problem-solving task Prompt small group discussions (Questioning strategies, cont.)

(Questioning Strategies, cont.) Don’t seek terms and descriptions Explore student’s understandings Allow for the exchange of ideas Provide a supportive environment Extend wait time Evaluate conceptual understanding (Questioning strategies, cont.) “Learning is not a process of passive reception of knowledge” Dylan Wiliam

Example Questions “Some people describe friction as the opposite of slipperiness. What do you think?” Students must justify their decision. What do you think of …..answer? What could we add to ….answer? Dean said…and Monica thought…but how can we bring these ideas together? (Questioning strategies, cont.)

Feedback What is Feedback? Information quickly given to students about their understanding Information given to teachers from students about their understanding Written comments quickly given to students on work (often without grades) Students sharing their understanding and knowledge of the subject with each other

Students can adjust misconceptions immediately Differentiation need is easily identified Students can be easily grouped by understandings Student understanding of concept is easily identified before moving to next topic during a class period (feedback, cont.) Benefits of Feedback

Traffic Light Icons Red: little understanding Amber: partial understanding Green: good understanding Students hold up colored cards for quick assessment of where they are in the learning; group like students together to continue instruction Teacher asks questions of students (no hands raised) Use colored dots on papers to show understanding (feedback, cont.)

ABCD Response Ask a multiple choice question Students discuss the question within group of 2 or more Group responds with letter answer Teachers asks students to justify their answer (no hands raised) Further study if needed (feedback, cont.)

Make constructive comments on written work Provide action for the student to follow: –Go back to your notes from…..and look up where chlorophyll is and what it does –Well explained so far but go back and explain why …… Student must know how to improve work; a grade alone does not do that Comments with grade is not as effective; student ignores comments when grade is given Feedback Using Written Comments (feedback, cont.)

(Feedback cont.) plan meaningful activities and questioning strategies have a strong knowledge of their subject understand how students learn understand where students will have difficulty in understand the concept Good feed back requires teachers to :

Learning tasks must reveal students’ understandings and misconceptions and not mainly convey information. Comments should identify what has been done well, what still needs improvement, and give guidance on how to make the improvement. (feedback, cont.)

What students say about teacher Comments Do not use red pen—students feel it ruins their work Write legibly Write statements students can understand

Sharing Learning Peer-Assessment –Homework checked –Well established routine –Disagreement openly discussed until agreement reached –Exchange is in language students understand –Students accept criticism from other students –Group feedback strengthens student voice –Teacher is free to observe and reflect on student’s work (feedback, cont.)

Sharing Learning Students must learn how to properly behave in groups Listen Take turns Model Criteria for peer and self evaluation through comments Peer assessment leads to self assessment to include strengths and weaknesses Students may be able to set their own criteria

Self Assessment After students have mastered Peer Assessment, students can begin evaluating their own work Students use the same strategies in self assessment as peer assessment

Summative Assessment Use formative assessment strategies to aid preparation for summative tests Use summative tests questions to identify learning targets Use formative practice to support reviews Use formative practice to develop more effective reviewing strategies Students can assess through stop-light cards and identify their weakness and strengths

(summative assessment, cont.) Review Using dots, color code areas of strength, weakness, not sure Divide students into groups to study areas of weakness and not strengths Students write their own test questions, answers and use with other students Good questions may be used on test After test, concentrate on items most missed and correcting could be done through peer marking Students develops their own mark scheme

(Summative assessment cont.) Student action for test review Students “traffic light” a list of key words or questions from a list of topics to be tested

Where to Start Wait Time Improve the quality of questions Implement richer dialogues in the classroom

Scaffolding Questions Students discuss questions in pairs before public answering of questions. Agreement, challenge or alternate approach is discussed pair either consolidates or modifies their original idea Small group work gives students opportunity to discuss and scaffold Teacher encourages comments Student has further opportunity to evaluate or alter the idea.