Wendy Zdeb-Roper
Michigan Association of
Secondary School Principals
Executive Director
wendyz@michiganprincipals.org
Follow @massp on Twitter
Find me on Linkedin
Join #masspchat Monday
nights from 8-9pm
Three Sticky Notes…
Do now…What do I already know about
formative assessment? (Just a sentence
or two)
Do now…What do I hope to learn about
formative assessment?
Save till the end…What I did learn about
formative assessment.
Today’s Learning Targets
 To learn the what, when, who and why of
formative assessment.
 To make the connection between clear
learning targets and formative
assessment.
 To learn a variety of ways to formatively
assess student learning.
 To understand how formative assessment
data drives the next steps of instruction.
Success Criteria
 I can communicate in a 30 second "elevator
speech" a working definition of what a formative
assessment is and how it can be used to improve
teaching and learning.
 I can write a student friendly learning target and
select a formative assessment to monitor student
progress.
 I will select five different formative assessment
strategies that I will implement in the first month of
school.
 I can use formative assessment data from my
students to inform my practice.
Quick Quiz…T or F?
1.
Formative assessment is done at the end of the
learning process.
2.
Formative assessment is used only for the teacher
to adjust instruction.
3.
Students are graded on every formative
assessment.
4.
Formative instruction and instruction go hand-inhand.
5.
Formative assessment can help teachers
differentiate instruction.
6.
Formative assessment can affect scores on
summative assessments.
Definition
A formative assessment or assignment is a
tool teachers use to give feedback to
students and/or guide their instruction.
It is not included in a student grade, nor
should it be used to judge a teacher's
performance. Both of these would be
considered summative assessments.
Turn & Talk
A formative assessment or assignment is a tool teachers
use to give feedback to students and/or guide their
instruction.
It is not included in a student grade, nor should it be
used to judge a teacher's performance. Both of these
would be considered summative assessments.
Does the definition provided fit with your
current practice?
What is in agreement?
What might be different?
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
What is Formative
Assessment?
An Ongoing Process To:
 Evoke evidence about student
learning
 Provide feedback about learning
to teachers and to students
 Close the gap between the
learner’s current state and
desired goals
Formative Assessment
Must be…
 Clearly and directly linked to
instructional goals
 Embedded in instruction
 A variety of methods and
strategies
 Used to make changes
Essential Principles
Formative Assessment is
 Student Focused
 Instructionally Informative
 Outcomes Based
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
Feedback: Students
Clear and descriptive feedback to students that
indicates:
 where they are in the learning progression
 how their response differed from that
reflected in desired learning goal
 how they can move forward
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
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
Formative Assessment
focuses on achieving goals
rather than determining if a
goal was or was not met.
A Typology of Formative Assessment
 Performance tasks (teacher observation of
student(s) carrying out an investigation, oral
presentation)
 Written tasks (teacher analysis science
notebooks, history essay, literature response,
explanation of mathematical strategy)
 Discussions (questions, teacher listens to group
discussion, teacher/student conferences)
 Tests (quizzes , tests of discrete skills, diagnostic
tests)
 Student self-assessment
What does the Research Say?
“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”
Seven Strategies
Where am I going?
1.
Provide clear Learning Target
2.
Use exemplars of strong and weak work
Where am I now?
3.
Provide descriptive feedback
4.
Teach students to self-assess & set goals
How can I close the gap?
5.
Design lessons to focus on one aspect
6.
Teach students focused revision
7.
Engage students in self-reflection, let them
keep track of and share their learning
Stiggins, 2006
 For formative assessment, teachers not only
must be clear about what they want students
to learn (the lesson objective or intended
outcome for students who "get it"); they also
must know typical student steps and missteps
toward this goal (the typical learning
progression). This knowledge is necessary
because what the teacher is looking for in
formative assessment is evidence of where
students are on their journey toward mastery
of the learning outcome. To interpret student
work that is on the way toward mastery,
teachers need to be able to recognize typical
and not-so-typical progress.
– Moss & Brookhart
Think, Pair, Share…
 What is challenging about
formative assessment?
 What support might you need
from colleagues to be successful
in your work?
List Three Things…
On the index card provided…
 List 3 Things that a fellow
colleague may misunderstand
about formative assessment.
Three Sticky Notes…
Do now…What do I already know about
formative assessment? (Just a sentence
or two)
Do now…What do I hope to learn about
formative assessment?
Save till the end…What I did learn about
formative assessment.
 For formative assessment, teachers not only
must be clear about what they want students
to learn (the lesson objective or intended
outcome for students who "get it"); they also
must know typical student steps and missteps
toward this goal (the typical learning
progression). This knowledge is necessary
because what the teacher is looking for in
formative assessment is evidence of where
students are on their journey toward mastery
of the learning outcome. To interpret student
work that is on the way toward mastery,
teachers need to be able to recognize typical
and not-so-typical progress.
– Moss & Brookhart
If we agree with Moss & Brookhart
then our starting point for solid
formative assessment practice has
to be a clear learning target.
What is a Learning Target?
-
Learning Targets guide learning.
-
They describe in language students
understand.
-
Learning Targets are written from the
students point of view.
-
They are shared through out the
lesson so that students can use them
to guide their own learning.
What is a Learning Target?
 They convey to students the destination for
the lesson—what to learn, how deeply to
learn it, and exactly how to demonstrate
their new learning. In our estimation (Moss &
Brookhart, 2009) and that of others (Seidle,
Rimmele, & Prenzel, 2005; Stiggins, Arter,
Chappuis, & Chappuis, 2009), the intention
for the lesson is one of the most important
things students should learn. Without a
precise description of where they are
headed, too many students are "flying
blind."
Establishing Purpose
Why use a learning target?
 Focuses attention
 Alerts learner to key ideas
 Prevents side trips and maximizes
learning time
 Can be used in formative
assessment
What a Learning Target is
NOT…
 An agenda
 A list of activities
 A section in the text book
 A hoop to jump through!
Learning Targets =
Shared Ownership
 Teachers and students have shared
understanding and ownership of the
learning goal
 Students become involved in self-
assessment
 Students need to learn the strategies of
self-assessment
 Students make “more knowledgeable
decisions regarding their current learning
tactics” (Popham, 2006)
Writing Learning Targets
in Student Language
Guiding Question
For Younger Students
For Older Students
What will I be able
to do when I’ve
finished this lesson?
I can…
Use question marks.
I can…
Explain the effect that
Ross Perot, a third
party candidate, had
on the election of
President Bill Clinton.
Learning Targets: Moss and Brookhart
Writing Learning Targets
in Student Language
Guiding Question
For Younger Students
For Older Students
What idea, topic,
or subject is
important for me
to learn and
understand so that
I can hit the
target?
To be able to do this,
I must learn and
understand that…
To be able to do
this, I must learn
and understand…
- Question marks
come at the end
of asking
sentences.
- The
characteristics of
a third-party
candidate.
- The economic
- An asking
conditions in the
sentence usually
US in 1992.
begins with a word - The platform and
that asks a
financial
question, like who,
resources of Ross
what, when,
Perot.
where, why and
how.
Writing Learning Targets
in Student Language
Guiding Question
For Younger Students
For Older Students
What will I do to
show that I
understand the
target, and how
well will I have to
do it?
I will show I can do this
by…
- Changing telling
sentences into asking
sentences.
I will show I can do
this by…
Writing an essay on
the role Ross Perot
played in 1992
election of Bill
Clinton that
includes three
specific effects
supported by
documented facts
from valid and
reliable sources.
Important to Note…
 What makes a statement a learning target is
that it communicates, in student friendly
language, what the student is expected to
know by end of a bite size chunk of the
lesson.
 Not all “I can” statements are learning
targets or success criteria. They must be
measurable.
What do Learning
Target’s Look Like?
Partner Talk
How do I check for
understanding during a
lesson?
How often do you do this?
 Everybody got that?
 Any questions?
 Does that make sense?
 OK?
Too often, we accept the answers
of a few to serve as a check for
understanding of all students.
Checking for Understanding is…
 Formative
 Systematic
 Planned
It is not…
Left until the end of the unit
Checking for
Understanding involves…
 Oral language
 Questioning
 Written language
 Projects and performance
 Tests
 Common assessments and consensus
scoring
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2007). Checking for understanding: Formative
assessment techniques for your classroom. Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Checking for Understanding
through Oral Language
 Involves speaking and listening
 Classrooms are often
overwhelmed by teacher talk
In high-achieving classrooms, teachers
spoke 55% of the time, compared to
low-achieving classrooms, where
teachers spoke 80% of the time
(Flanders, 1970)
56 different examples
of formative
assessment.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nzhdnyMQmio5lNT
75ITB45rHyLISHEEHZlHTWJRqLmQ/pub?start=false&loop=false&
delayms=3000#slide=id.p
Curated by David Wees, Formative
assessment specialist, New Visions for Public
Schools
Digital Artifact Box!
 Review the 56 different examples
of formative assessment Curated
by David Wees.
 Select 5-8 different formative
assessment strategies that you
will implement in the first two
weeks of school.
Share with a partner…
Why did you select these
options?
How will you involve students in the
formative assessment process?
Edutopia
Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to
Check for Understanding
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/dipsticks-tocheck-for-understanding-todd-finley
Student Self-Assessment
Student Self-Assessment
Learning Target,
Formative
Assessment…Now What?
 Once you have gathered
evidence of student learning
from your formative assessment
how will it inform your next steps
in instruction?
My Favorite LT &
Formative Assessment
Resources
Revisit Your Quiz…
1.
Formative assessment is done at the end of the
learning process.
2.
Formative assessment is used only for the teacher
to adjust instruction.
3.
Students are graded on every formative
assessment.
4.
Formative instruction and instruction go hand-inhand.
5.
Formative assessment can help teachers
differentiate instruction.
6.
Formative assessment can affect scores on
summative assessments.
Success Criteria
 I can communicate in a 30 second "elevator
speech" a working definition of what a formative
assessment is and how it can be used to improve
teaching and learning.
 I can write a student friendly learning target and
select a formative assessment to monitor student
progress.
 I will select five different formative assessment
strategies that I will implement in the first month of
school.
 I can use formative assessment data from my
students to inform my practice.
Three Sticky Notes…
Do now…What do I already know about
formative assessment? (Just a sentence
or two)
Do now…What do I hope to learn about
formative assessment?
Save till the end…What I did learn about
formative assessment.
Our goal is not to
determine how smart
children are, but how
children are smart.
Wendy Zdeb-Roper
Michigan Association of
Secondary School Principals
Executive Director
wendyz@michiganprincipals.org
Follow @massp on Twitter
Find me on Linkedin
Join #masspchat Monday
nights from 8-9pm