Formative Assessment Example
This is an example of a Formative Assessment written for a teacher on a Directed Growth plan.
Progress on Goals
Student
By December 1, 2012, whenever asked about the content objective for the day,
Learning Goal an average of 95% of students will be able to explain the objective, what they
are learning, and why; they will be able to demonstrate evidence of their
learning through their notebook entries and student work (class and homework
tasks, quizzes, and exams).
Rating
Did Not Meet
Rationale
Mr. X has been rated as Did Not Meet because he has not demonstrated sufficient
progress towards reaching his identified Student Learning Goal.
When asked about the content objective for the day, less than 95% of students
were able to explain the objective, what they were learning, and why. In
addition, I did not observe a significant number of students demonstrating their
understanding on the class assignments. Consequently, Mr. X made insufficient
progress toward this goal.
Evidence 1 (from artifact/observation): During my visit on October 19, 33% of
students were able to explain the objective, what they were learning, and why.
Evidence 2 (from artifact/observation): During my visit on November 28, only one
out of six students I spoke with was able to explain the objective and
demonstrate understanding.
Evidence 3: During each of my visits, Mr. X used whole-class instruction for the
mini lesson but did not regularly use cold calling strategies. Mr. X also didn’t use
dip sticking techniques during the mini lesson. As a result, he had insufficient
information about the extent of student understanding and wasn’t strategic
about structuring groups or pairings during the independent work time. I did not
observe any use of the techniques from the Skillful Teacher or Teach Liker a
Champion even though I recommended these as resources.
Professional
In order to ensure that all students are engaged in every lesson, Mr. X will
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Practice Goal
develop and deliver lessons that explicitly build understanding of the big ideas
and essential concepts, and provide opportunities for students to process their
thinking individually and with one another. Progress will be monitored by
observation of student conversations, conference notes, student notebook
entries, and work products.
Rating
Did Not Meet
Rationale
Mr. X submitted the Workshop model lesson plan template however his plans
lack specificity in critical elements of the lesson. Mr. X was supposed to submit
his lessons for the week on Monday of each week, however he was inconsistent
with this requirement. Most weeks he did not submit lessons.
Evidence 1 (from artifact/observation): Mr. X submitted a full week of
lesson plans on time 3 out of 10 weeks. For the week of October 22, Mr. X
submitted a full week of lessons on October 30. For the other weeks, Mr. X
submitted lesson than the required number of days and there are a couple of
weeks when he submitted nothing. The last lesson plan submitted was on
November 28.
Evidence 2 (from artifact/observation): Mr. X uses the Workshop model lesson
template however the lesson elements are not rigorously designed. There is an
essential question and reference to standards but no connection between the
essential questions and how the mini lesson or the independent practice
activities are designed and executed. The objectives are mostly procedural (i.e.,
find the distance and midpoint between two points on a coordinate plane and
write equations of circles given the center and a point on the circle). The mini
lessons consist of one or two bullets such as: “Review hw, “Have a student who
remembers composition of functions explain the process with guided
assistance.” Mini lessons should include the teaching of key terms and
vocabulary and instruction of content. It ought to answer the question, How will
I deliver the lesson to help my students answer the essential question? On
October 19, he received feedback about how to improve his lessons (see
artifacts). However, I have not seen evidence that Mr. X has applied this
feedback.
Evidence 3: During my visits on October 19 and November 28th, I did not observe
Mr. X using techniques or strategies or executing activities that required
students to process their thinking individually or with other students. In each
case, the task was a worksheet and the students practiced procedures and did
not engage in questions requiring critical thinking or reasoning.
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Performance on Standards
Standard
1. Curriculum, Planning, and Assessment
Rating
Needs Improvement
Rationale
As described by the Needs Improvement level of element I-A-4. Well-Structured
Lessons, Mr. X does not develop well-structured lessons with challenging,
measurable objectives, and lessons have only some elements of appropriate
student engagement strategies, pacing, sequence, activities, materials,
resources, technologies, and groupings.
Evidence 1: Mr. X has demonstrated evidence of planning but does not
consistently develop lessons as evidenced by the many days on which he did not
submit lesson plans as requested.
Evidence 2: Mr. X does not consistently develop lessons that are based on
rigorous content and language objectives and designed to maximize student
engagement in tasks that require critical thinking and reasoning. The objectives
in Mr. X’s lessons are primarily procedural and do not contain opportunities for
students to explain, model, or present their thinking and conceptual
understanding.
Evidence 3: Mr. X allows students to work in groups but does not effectively
use grouping and pairing structures to differentiate what happens during
independent work time. On October 22, I met with Mr. X and recommended he
use “Clock Buddies” as a grouping strategy. I sent him the template along with
instructions on how to use it and told him to invite me to his class so that I could
model its use with students. Mr. X didn’t use the technique and never invited me
in to his class.
Mr. X does not regularly use dip sticking techniques and strategies to check for
student understanding. He doesn’t anticipate and develop activities to address
confusion and misconceptions. Instead he assigns a worksheet to everyone and
then circulates around to individual students. I have explained that this practice
isn’t efficient or effective because it’s impossible for him to make it around to
each student. The period ends with students confused and no time for an exit
ticket or summary/wrap up. As a result, students leave the class without making
progress toward learning the lesson objective.
Area for Growth (optional):
1. Mr. X must submit daily lesson plans for the upcoming week to his supervisor
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by noon each Thursday; supervisor will give written and/or oral feedback.
Plans must include accommodations/modifications for students with IEPs
and English Language Learners.
2. Seek out professional development in areas related to these indicators.
Among top priorities are: purposeful planning, and outcome-based content
and language objectives.
3. Read the attached excerpt from The Skillful Teacher: Chapter 9 - Clarity
(p.161-219). With your supervisor, identify high-leverage practices and
develop an action plan to initiate consistent implementation.
4. Starting in February 2013, fully implement the instructional practices
identified at the school’s August PD (August 27-30, 2012).
Prescription (only necessary if rating on standard is Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement)
Indicator
Problem
Evidence
Prescription Statement
Statement
Statement
See rationale.
See rationale.
I-A-4. Well1. Mr. X must submit daily lesson
Structured
Lessons
plans for the upcoming week to his
supervisor by noon each Thursday;
supervisor will give written and/or
oral feedback. Plans must include
accommodations/modifications for
students with IEPs and English
Language Learners.
2. Seek out professional development
in areas related to these indicators.
Among top priorities are:
purposeful planning, and outcomebased content and language
objectives.
3. Read the attached excerpt from
The Skillful Teacher: Chapter 9 Clarity (p.161-219). With your
supervisor, identify high-leverage
practices and develop an action
plan to initiate consistent
implementation.
4. Starting in February 2013, fully
implement the instructional
practices identified at the school’s
August PD (August 27-30, 2012).
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Standard
Rating
II. Teaching All Students
Unsatisfactory
Rationale
Mr. X does not consistently use instructional practices that differentiated and
were likely to motivate and engage most students, including struggling learners
and those with disabilities, in the lesson.
Evidence 1: During each of my visits, Mr. X used whole-class instruction for the
mini lesson but did not regularly use cold calling strategies. Mr. X also didn’t use
dip sticking techniques during the mini lesson. As a result, he had insufficient
information about the extent of student understanding and wasn’t strategic
about structuring groups or pairings during the independent work time. I did not
observe any use of the techniques from the Skillful Teacher or Teach Like a
Champion even though I recommended these as resources.
Evidence 2: During my visit on October 19, 33% of students were able to explain
the objective, what they were learning, and why.
Evidence 3: On October 22, Mr. X and one of his students met with me
because the student accused Mr. X of not helping her in class. She said he tells
students to work with a partner but her partner wasn’t in class so she had no
one to work with and was confused about the content. After this meeting, I
suggested that Mr. X use a structured format for assigning partners and make
sure students are clear about the content before asking them to work in pairs.
Mr. Williams did not follow through with using the strategy I suggested. When I
observed on November 28, Mr. X was still using informal groups or pairs, passed
out a worksheet without making sure most students were clear about what had
been covered in the mini lesson.
Area for Growth (optional):
1. Mr. X needs to use strategies to engage all students in the learning. He
needs to conduct small group instruction during the independent work time.
He will use the various learning modalities of his students to engage them in
the lesson. He will use strategies such as "Turn and Talk", "Think Pair Share"
to encourage engagement.
2. Mr. X needs to schedule time to work with the Literacy Coach during the
week. In addition, Mr. X should visit classrooms at the school to observe the
Literacy Block.
3. Mr. X should also enroll in the professional development literacy offered by
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the Literacy Department.
Prescription (only necessary if rating on standard is Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement)
Indicator
Problem
Evidence
Prescription Statement
Statement
Statement
See
rationale.
See rationale.
II-A-2. Student
1. Mr. X needs to use strategies to
Engagement
engage all students in the learning.
He needs to conduct small group
instruction during the independent
work time. He will use the various
learning modalities of his students
to engage them in the lesson. He
will use strategies such as "Turn and
Talk", "Think Pair Share" to
encourage engagement.
2. Mr. X needs to schedule time to
work with the Literacy Coach during
the week. In addition, Mr. X should
visit classrooms at the school to
observe the Literacy Block. Mr.
3. X should also enroll in the
professional development literacy
offered by the Literacy
Department.
Standard
Rating
III. Family & Community Engagement
Rationale
Mr. X has not provided evidence that he uses a variety of strategies to support
every family to participate actively and appropriately in the classroom and
school community.
Evidence 1: Mr. X attended Open House as required.
Needs Improvement
Evidence 2: On October 27, I emailed Mr. X to request that he upload artifacts for
standards I, III, and IV. He did not upload any evidence.
Area for Growth (optional):
1. Mr. X is required to contact parents of students with poor attendance, poor
on-time arrival rates, and poor performance (Ds or Fs). He should log all
parental/guardian contact in the journal feature of Aspen.
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Prescription (only necessary if rating on standard is Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement)
Indicator
Problem
Evidence
Prescription Statement
Statement
Statement
See rationale.
See rationale.
III-A-1.
1. Mr. X is required to contact
Parent/Family
Engagement
parents of students with poor
attendance, poor on-time arrival
rates, and poor performance (Ds
or Fs). He should log all
parental/guardian contact in the
journal feature of Aspen.
Standard
Rating
IV. Professional Culture
Needs Improvement
Rationale
Claim: Mr. X consistently attends department and grade-level meetings.
However, Mr. X is not using Evidence Based Argumentation techniques with his
students even though this is a focus of the work for the 11/12th grade team. Mr.
X does not consistently fulfill is professional responsibilities and isn’t consistently
punctual and reliable with paperwork, duties and assignments.
Evidence 1: Attendance records for CPT and after school PD show that Mr. X is
present.
Evidence 2: I have not seen reference to any EBA strategies or techniques in
lesson plans. I have seen the execution of EBA techniques or strategies during
observations (Oct. 19 and Nov. 28).
Evidence 3: On October 27, I emailed Mr. X to request that he upload artifacts
for standards I, III, and IV. He did not upload any evidence. Mr. X has missed
deadlines and scheduled meetings with the headmaster. He submitted his selfassessment after the deadline of October 1 and didn’t show up for his postconference meeting on December 10. Submitted his five days of sub plans after
the deadline. He also failed to follow up with me to co-teach a pairing strategy as
instructed (discussion on Oct. 22).
Area for Growth (optional):
1. Work with math department colleagues (Mr. A and Mr. B) to plan lessons
that incorporate Evidence Based Analysis strategies. I should see EBA
reflected in the lesson plans you submit.
2. Mr. X must consistently fulfill his professional responsibilities. This includes
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on-time submission of paperwork, attendance at meetings as requested, and
follow up with the headmaster or other administrator as requested. If Mr. X
is unable to attend a meeting or isn’t able to meet a deadline, then he must
reach out to communicate with an administrator ahead of time.
Prescription (only necessary if rating on standard is Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement)
Indicator
Problem
Evidence
Prescription Statement
Statement
Statement
See rationale.
See rationale.
IV-C-1.
1. Work with math department
Professional
Collaboration,
IV-F-2.
Reliability and
Responsibility
colleagues (Mr. A and Mr. B) to plan
lessons that incorporate Evidence
Based Analysis strategies. I should see
EBA reflected in the lesson plans you
submit.
2. Mr. X must consistently fulfill his
professional responsibilities. This
includes on-time submission of
paperwork, attendance at meetings as
requested, and follow up with the
headmaster or other administrator as
requested. If Mr. X is unable to attend
a meeting or isn’t able to meet a
deadline, then he must reach out to
communicate with headmaster or
other administrator ahead of time.
Comments (optional):
Overall Rating
Rating
Exemplary, Proficient, Needs Improvement, or
Unsatisfactory
Needs Improvement
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