Formative Assessment:
Learning Intentions?
Success Criteria?
Where are we now?
Academic Coaches Meeting
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Lee Ann Pruske Mary Mooney
February 15, 2013
INDIVIDUALLY…

Jot down
a learning intention that you thought was well
written,
 And one that you thought was poorly written

Share at your table
 What made the learning intention strong or
weak?

REGIONAL ANECDOTES…
Weekly regional walks
 Grows and Glows
 Observations shared with school leaders


Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
WE ARE LEARNING TO…

Deepen our understanding of the roles
learning intentions and success criteria play
in the formative assessment process.

We will know we are successful we can
coach teachers through creating learning
intention/success criteria based on the
desired lesson outcomes.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT DEFINITION
An assessment functions formatively 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 made in the absence of
that evidence.
Dylan Wiliam, 2011
PROCESS V. PRODUCT
The term formative is used to describe
the function that the evidence from the
assessment actually serves, not the
assessment itself.
11
THE LEARNING INTENTION…
“is the heart of formative assessment, and
needs to be made clear at the planning stage if
teachers are to find formative assessment
manageable.”
Shirley Clarke, 2001
12
PURPOSE OF SUCCESS CRITERIA
“Is to make students absolutely sure about what
it is in the teacher’s mind as the criteria for
judging their work. Too often student know the
learning intention, but not how the teacher is
going to judge their performance.”
Shirley Clarke, 2001
13
EMBEDDED FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT READING

Read pages 1-2
Confused Learning
Intention
Clarified Learning
Intention
Context of Learning
To be able to write
instructions on how to
change a bicycle tire
To be able to write clear Changing a bicycle tire
instructions
To be able to present
an argument for
against assisted
suicide
To be able to present
an argument either for
or against an
emotionally charged
proposition
Assisted suicide
To produce and analyze To construct and
a questionnaire about
analyze questionnaire
movie going habits
data
Movie-going habits
To design an
experiment to find out
what conditions pill
bugs prefer
Preferred habitat of pill
bugs
To design fair tests for
scientific questions
Source: Dylan Wiliam , 2011
EMBEDDED FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT READING

Read pages 1-2

With a partner complete the table with an
example

Share your example with your tablemates
JIGSAW READING
1s- Task-specific verses generic scoring
rubrics
2s- Product-focused verses process-focused
criteria
3s- Official verses student-friendly language
FROM CLASSROOM TO PRACTICE…

As a table group, discuss how the four different
learning target examples could be improved
based on the information in the reading.

Be prepared to share.
WE ARE LEARNING TO…

Deepen our understanding of the roles
learning intentions and success criteria play
in the formative assessment process.

We will know we are successful we can
coach teachers through creating learning
intention/success criteria based on the
desired lesson outcomes.
CLASSROOM FOCUS

How do we strengthen or improve the Learning
Intentions and Success Criteria?

How do we work with teachers to improve
Learning Intentions and Success Criteria in
daily math lessons?
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Bring in 3-5 typed transcripts of posted
Learning Intentions and Success Criteria you
see in classrooms
 Include
the context of learning
 Grade Level
 Domain, Cluster(s), Standard(s) of the lesson
FEEDBACK QUESTION

How will this information around Learning
Intentions/Success Criteria connect to your
goal(s)?
Milwaukee Public Schools
TITLE OF PRESENTATION
MPS Board of School Directors
Senior Team
Dr. Michael Bonds, President
Larry Miller, Vice President
Mark Sain, District 1
Jeff Spence, District 2
Annie Woodward, District 4
Dr. Peter Blewett, District 6
David Voeltner, District 7
Meagan Holman, District 8
Terrence Falk, At-Large
Dr. Gregory Thornton, Superintendent
Naomi Gubernick, Chief of Staff
Darienne Driver, Chief Innovation Officer
Tina Flood, Executive Director, Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Karen Jackson, Chief Human Resources Officer
Michelle Nate, Chief Operations Officer
Gerald Pace, Esq., Chief Financial Officer
Anita Pietrykowski, Director, School Administration
Denise Callaway, Communications & Partnerships
Patricia Gill, Executive Director, Family Services
Sue Saller, Coordinator to the Superintendent