Education is known for trendy jargon. \u00a0Each educational fad de jour comes with its own set of terms and phrases that are flaunted by \u201cthose in the know\u201d and used incorrectly by those who aren\u2019t. The jargon becomes the means to distinguish between those who are truly cutting edge and those who want to appear cutting edge. \u00a0Many educators choose to avoid the fray by pointing out the reality that education abounds with passing fads.<\/p>\n
Formative assessment <\/em>seems to be one of those\u00a0examples of trendy jargon. The frequency of its use appears to be increasing. Since Black and Wiliam (1998) published their seminal article on the topic in 1998, formative assessment has become increasingly common in educational journals. A quick search of the words \u201cformative assessment\u201d using an online, academic database located 648 articles in academic journals 615 of those articles were published since 1998,\u00a0and almost half (284) since 2008. In education, formative assessment has had an amazing fourteen year run, and it continues to gain momentum. It appears to be more than a passing fad.<\/p>\n We are at the point where the serious educator needs to have a basic understanding of formative assessment. Its jargon is no longer only for the avant-garde, but part of the mainstream. As professionals, educators need to use the term “formative assessment” correctly. Those who chose to remain uninformed risk becoming seen as out of touch with promising practice.<\/p>\n So what is formative assessment? In a nutshell, formative assessment is a philosophical approach to teaching and learning that believes that raising student achievement requires both teacher and students to own the learning goals and the attainment of those goals. For this to occur, the teacher needs to share the learning goal with the students in a way that they can comprehend, provide opportunities for the teacher and students to mark progress toward that goal as learning is taking place, and make adjustments in teaching and learning activities to ensure that all attain the goal.<\/p>\n Teachers with a formative assessment philosophy follow a process that helps them carry out their philosophy in lessons. This process is guided by the following questions:<\/p>\n It is the job of the teacher to make the answers to those questions clear to the students. One way a teacher can do this is by embedding certain practices within the lessons. The following are some accepted practices.<\/p>\n The Learning Target:<\/span> The teacher expresses the main learning outcome to the students in simple words that they can easily understand and own. The teacher may use a\u00a0verbal explanation, examples, scoring guides, or other measures to help the student not only grasp the target but see how its attainment will be measured during the lesson.<\/p>\n Problem of Understanding:<\/span> The teacher prepares an activity that all students can complete to gather data <\/em>or provide information on where the student’s\u00a0understanding\u00a0is in relation to the target. The gathered data can be words, pictures, gestures, numbers, etc., and the results are known by both the teacher and student. This activity is sometimes known as form<\/em>ative assessment because it gathers data on student achievement while the learning is form<\/em>ing so that both teacher and student can adjust and improve before the lesson is done.<\/p>\n Feedback to Feed Forward:<\/span> The teacher provides the students with feedback that helps them recognize their current progress, how it compares to the learning target, and how the student can get closer to fully achieving the target. \u00a0The teacher also adjusts his or her instruction to better match the students\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n Throughout the lesson, the teacher plans and uses a variety of informal self, peer, and teacher assessments to help guide the teaching and learning process.<\/p>\n An overview such as this one often errs on the side of oversimplification. To gain a better grasp on the background, procedures, and benefits of a formative assessment approach, I recommend any of the books from the reference section below. Additionally, an online, one-credit course is\u00a0offered by MLC \u00a0called Formative Assessment That Works. <\/em>This course is designed to walk teachers through the process of understanding, seeing, creating, and evaluating a lesson for their own classroom that follows a formative assessment process.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE to register for\u00a0EDU9520 Formative Assessment That Works<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Written by Professor John Meyer<\/em> References<\/span><\/p>\n Black, P., & Wiliam, D<\/a>. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment.<\/em> King’s College, London School of Education, London, UK.<\/p>\n Brookhart, S. M. (2004). Grading.<\/em> Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.<\/p>\n Moss, C. M., & Brookhart, S. M. (2009). Advancing formative assessment in every classroom.<\/em> Alexandria, VA: ASCD.<\/p>\n Moss, C. M., & Brookhart, S. M. (2012). Learning targets: Helping students aim for understanding in today’s lesson.<\/em> Alexandria, VA: ASCD.<\/p>\n Some Online Resources:<\/span><\/p>\n Practical Assessment Research & Evaluation website<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\nMLC Director of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education<\/em><\/p>\nShare this:<\/h3>