1. Rich Formative Assessment: Critical Component of Instruction
Denise White
WVDE Office of Instruction

2. Anticipation Guide On your table you will find a half sheet of paper.
Read the statements and respond by marking A (Agree) or D (Disagree)
Keep your answers private – no discussions
Turn your papers over when finished

3. Discussion As a table group, please discuss the following questions:
When were you assessed and it was a negative experience? What made it so?
When were you assessed and it was a positive experience? What made it so?

4. What is formative assessment?

5. Formative Assessment

6. Formative Assessment takes place during the learning process
informs both teachers and students
allows teachers to adjust instruction
involves students
cannot be separated from the instructional process
is Classroom Assessment for Learning

7. Formative Assessment gives teachers information that they can use to inform their teaching and improve learning while it is in progress and while the outcome of the race can still be influenced.
Laura Greenstein
What Teachers Really Need to Know about Formative Assessment

8. Formative Assessment:
Focuses instruction on informed priorities
Allows for customized learning
Encourages teachers and students to work together toward achievement
Increases student engagement and motivation
Increases coherence between curriculum, instruction and assessment

9. The Cycle of Formative Assessment
Identification of Objectives, Goals, Standards
Targeted Instruction
Data Gathering
Data Analysis
Responding to Data

10. Essential Principles Formative Assessment is Student Focused
Instructionally Informative
Outcomes Based

11. Student Focused Formative Assessment helps teachers
Consider each student’s learning needs and styles and adapt instruction
Track individual student achievement
Provide appropriately challenging instructional activities
Design student assessments
Offer all students opportunities for improvement through descriptive feedback

12. Instructionally Informative
Formative Assessment
Provides a way to align standards, content, and assessment
Allows for purposeful selection of strategies
Embeds assessment in instruction
Guides instructional decisions

13. Outcomes Based Formative Assessment Emphasizes learning outcomes
Makes goals and objectives transparent to students
Provides clear assessment criteria
Closes the gap between what students know and desired outcomes
Provides feedback that is relevant, comprehensible, actionable
Provides valuable diagnostic information by generating informative data

14. Formative Assessment focuses on achieving goals rather than determining if a goal was or was not met.

15. Research
“Formative Assessment shows an effect size of between .4 and .7, the equivalent of going from the 50th percentile to the 65th percentile.”
Paul Black & Dylan Wiliam, 1998
“Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment”

16. Why Involve Students? Formative Assessment can
Boost student achievement
Increase student motivation
High School Survey of Student Engagement
80,000 students from 19 states
Less than 50% discussed grades and/or assignments with a teacher
Almost half did not receive prompt feedback
Only 57% contributed to class discussions
Only half got to make choices about what they study
Findings: Providing frequent feedback and choices through formative assessment can help students see progress and feel supported, often changing their motivation. (Heritage, 2007)

17. Seven Strategies Where am I going? Where am I now?
Provide clear Learning Target
Use exemplars of strong and weak work
Where am I now?
Provide descriptive feedback
Teach students to self-assess & set goals
How can I close the gap?
5. Design lessons to focus on one aspect
Teach students focused revision
Engage students in self-reflection, let them keep track of and share their learning
Stiggins, 2006

18. Anticipation Guide Look at the statements again
Change any Agrees or Disagrees based on new information you have gained
Discuss your answers with a partner

19. Formative assessment is done at the end of the learning process.
Formative assessment is used only for the teacher to adjust instruction.
Students are graded on every formative assessment.
Formative instruction and instruction go hand-in-hand.
Formative assessment can help teachers differentiate instruction.
Formative assessment can affect scores on summative assessments.

20. Where Can Teachers Find More about Formative Assessments?

31. Frayer Model Take a blank sheet of paper
Fold it in half, then in half again
Bend the corner in
Open it flat and write Formative Assessment in the center diamond
Label sections as shown on next slide

32. Definition in your own words: Facts/ Characteristics:
Formative Assessment
Examples:
Nonexamples:

39. Inside Outside Circle Count off 1, 2, 1, 2 …….
1s form a circle with your back to the inside
2s find a partner who is a 1 and face them forming an outside circle
Be prepared to discuss with your partner when the teacher directs

44. 3-2-1 Exit Slip Take an index card from the table
3 Things you learned about Formative Assessment
2 Strategies that you think will be valuable to teachers
1 Question you still may have

45. Formative Assessment used during this presentation
Anticipation Guide
Think-Pair-Share
Discussion
Frayer Model
Inside – Outside Circle
Observation
Exit Slip

46. Questions about Formative Assessment