INFUSING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS INSTITUTE DAY 2018 TURN AND TALK • What is formative assessment? (Define it.) • Why use it? (What is its purpose and how can it be powerful?) CORE QUESTION: WHEN AND HOW CAN I INFUSE FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS INTO MY TEACHING TO HELP MY STUDENTS LEARN? AGENDA OBJECTIVES • Intro/Foundation • We will share a common understanding of different types of assessments and how they can be used. • Assessments… • before instruction • between classes • within a class • What to do with information from formative assessments • We will leave with new ideas for ways we can use short assessments that provide us with formative information to inform our teaching. DEFINING ASSESSMENT Assessment is… • “…the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students.”1 • “…the process of describing, collecting, recording, scoring, and interpreting information about learning.”2 (1) http://edglossary.org/assessment/ (2) http://tutorials.istudy.psu.edu/testing/testing2.html TYPES OF ASSESSMENT (THERE ARE MORE BUT FOR OUR PURPOSES TODAY WE’LL TALK ABOUT THREE) • Summative: Formal assessments that are given at the end of a unit, term, course, or academic year. • Measurement OF learning • Interim/benchmark: Assessments administered during instruction that are designed to evaluate students’ knowledge and skills relative to a specific set of goals to inform decisions in the classroom and beyond. • Measurement OF and FOR learning • Formative: assessment carried out during the instructional process for the purpose of “nearimmediate” improvement of teaching and learning. It is more a process than a thing. • Measurement FOR learning • A single assessment could be used in multiple ways (an interim assessment could be used formatively). TYPES OF ASSESSMENT (CONTINUED) Summative: at the end of learning Interim: a pause in learning Formative: part of learning Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 AHA! FROM STEVEN LEVY • The culminating project or demonstration of learning does not always have to be assessed. Sometimes we can assess the smaller parts that lead to a bigger performance of student understanding. DIFFERENT TIMES FOR FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT • Before instruction • Between classes • Within a lesson • A crucial component of formative assessment is that you need to see ALL students thinking. • Formative assessment is not for grading – doesn’t mean you can’t “score” them (if that fits the assignment) but it shouldn’t count against students. • The assessment should be formative for the educator AND the student – students need feedback. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IS ONLY FORMATIVE IF IT’S ACTUALLY USED… • “Practice in a classroom is formative to the extent that evidence about student achievement is elicited, interpreted, and used by teachers, learners, or their peers, to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions they would have taken in the absence of the evidence that was elicited.” –Black & Wiliam, 2009. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT BEFORE INSTRUCTION • At the beginning of a unit (or even year/when students arrive) to understand what students already know/can do and are interested in. • Examples: • Think, Puzzle, Explore routine on a topic (to understand not only what students might already know but also what they are curious and interested in related to a topic) • Pre-assessment (one question/skillàmany questions/skills) • Could take many forms: • Multiple choice • Short answer, fill in answers • More extensive writing, drawing, mapping, etc. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT BETWEEN CLASSES • Diagnostic Questions: carefully crafted questions that provide information which informs immediate next steps in learning. Good diagnostic questions: • • • • Assess understanding of a learning target Uncover student misconceptions Make it unlikely that students could get the correct answer for the wrong reason Elicit a response from all students • Results in instructional action • These questions are “diagnostic” because not only do they show what students know/can do but they will also provide insight into student thinking and the nature of any misconceptions. VIDEO 1: MULTI-TIERED EXIT SLIPS • See, Think, Wonder • What do you see? • What do you think about that? • What does it make you wonder? • Video 1: Multi-tiered exit slips FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT WITHIN A CLASS • These are both examples that are used to start a lesson, but they could also be used throughout one. • Video 2: The One Question Quiz • Video 3: My Favorite No FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN A MOMENT • Diagnostic Hinge Point questions • Based on an important concept in a lesson that is essential for students to understand before moving on • Results determine whether to continue on or take a different route (the next steps “hinge” on students’ responses • Every student should be able to respond in just a few minutes and you should be able to look at and assess everyone’s answer within a minute • Know in advance what your threshold is for moving on or changing course TWO NOTES 1. No matter what type of assessment (formative, interim, summative) or when (at the beginning of instruction, between lessons, within a lesson) a core part of our work as educators is to create opportunities for our students to make their thinking visible. • Visible Thinking Routines TWO NOTES 2. Depth of Knowledge • Not sequential or developmentallyconstrictive • Example: preschoolers create art all the time without going through levels 1-3 first. Source: Webb, Norman L. and others. “Web Alignment Tool” 24 July 2005. Wisconsin Center of Educational Research. University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2 Feb. 2006. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS? • Feedback • Investigate or extend student thinking • Re-group, Re-engage, Re-teach • Stations • Mini-lesson you have at the ready • Whole class discussion to clarify a misconception • Move On • Video 4: Students self-identify their needs ARTICLE BY DYLAN WILIAM • Adapted Jigsaw – 5 parts 1. Intro + Formative Assessment 2. Key Strategies of Formative Assessment—Learning Intentions 3. Eliciting Evidence 4. Feedback + Students as Learning Resources for One Another 5. Students Owning Their Own Learning + Conclusion TECHNIQUE TRACKER • Partner up and look through the technique tracker. • Identify at least one new technique that you will try in your context in the coming week. • Support one another by brainstorming tweaks/adaptions and troubleshooting things that might get in the way.
