Digital Formative Analysis

The term ‘formative assessment’ is used to describe the activities and processes used by teachers and learners to gather information that informs future teaching and learning. Assessment becomes formative if the information gathered is used as feedback to adapt and modify teaching and learning (Black and Wiliam, 1998, p.2). There are a variety of different methods and techniques that can be used by teachers and learners that can contribute to enhancing learner progress. These include

The use of formative assessment practices with ELL students are observational checklists, peer assessment, and performance skills. By having students writing a lesson plan, the roles between the teacher and the students will be changed. This is a formative assessment that engages students in distinctive ways. Students are focused on goals and objectives. It gives them confidence. They are creating a lesson. For ELLs, this is a tremendous accomplishment when done correctly, as well as when done in a collaborative classroom environment. It promotes constructive feedback. Students play an active role in formative assessment. They not only perform the task given, providing evidence of their current learning, but they are also involved in self-assessment (and sometimes peer assessment); therefore, developing and enhancing autonomy.

A formative assessment provides informal feedback and information during the teaching process. This assessment measures student progress and performance thus allowing further improvement and development. It can also assess the teacher’s progress as an instructor, enabling the teacher to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching methods.

Throughout this process, I discovered that each student should have clear individual goals that are communicated to them through feedback on both formal and informal assignments. Providing students with choice in texts can encourage students to engage in reading texts that relate to their lives, beliefs, and values. When students need help with key skills, such as grammar or identifying evidence from the text, additional practice (i.e.: with the computer program NoRedInk) and graphic organizers can help students develop skills, practice, and apply learning to their reading and writing experiences. Frequent formative assessments help me to understand students’ skill levels with comprehension, writing, and synthesis of ideas and also allow me to track student progress. Formative assessments also allow me to provide students with feedback and communicate whether

Assessment provides feedback that learners can use to determine their progress, in relation to learning outcomes (Spiller, 2009:6).

This feedback must also be clear and understandable (2005). Additionally, this feedback should be given early and often, and time should be given for the students to use the feedback (2005). When feedback is given in a timely manner, students have time to self-assess, which aids in promoting mastery goals (2005). Admittedly, formative assessments are needed in my courses. Typically, I use oral questions and provide a few quizzes, which should be ungraded (2005), are graded. Thus, I need to design formative assessments that are not graded and based on the premise that all students will meet the learning goals (Green & Johnson,

Throughout the duration of the course, one recurring theme was the significance of formative assessment and how it can be used as a platform to guide the students in the process of learning. Yorke (2003) explains that formative assessment is the key towards improving a student’s intellectual development and is constructive towards learning. He continues on by stating that this is acknowledged but “it is not well understood across higher education”. I do agree with this, that Formative assessment is continuous method which is effective in defining if a lesson is outstanding or not and how constructive feedback is useful for both the students and the teachers, one thing which is very significant about formative assessment is that it can be both

This article “Helping Students Understand Assessment” written by Jan Chappuis was similar to the other article she wrote with her husband. However, I enjoyed how in-depth she went into students becoming an active partner in improving their learning. All too often teacher gives grades to their students without their students understanding what the goal was for the assignment or where they are mastering target are in the class or assignments. Research on effective formative assessment suggest that students should be able to answer three questions: where am I going, where am I now, and how can I close the gap? As a teacher, we need to help our students answer these questions so they can make significant achievements in their learning.

Technology can prepare teachers to assess individual student’s strengths and needs. There are two approaches to technology-supported assessment. (1) a mastery learning approach that is connected to accountability systems. This approach prepares teachers to develop benchmarks for students to monitor their progress in a standards-based curriculum. (2) this supports and assesses comprehension that creates a picture of student thinking. These approaches help teachers to develop a clear bases for teachers, so they can serve as coaches and advisors, to direct students to the right resources and projects that comply with curricular requirements (Moeller & Reitzes 2011,

The author defines formative feedback (FF) as information intended to change a student’s thinking or behavior to improve learning. It ought to be specific, helpful, timely, and not judgmental. Types of FF are: confirmation of a correct answer, clarification of the accurate response, clues, and work examples. Previous research by Swam (1983) found that

It has been widely accepted that the use of formative assessment practices enhances the students’ learning. Recently, Cizek [1] referred formative assessment as a collaborative processes engaged in by educators and students for the purpose of understanding the students’ learning and conceptual organization, identification of strengths, diagnosis of weaknesses, areas for improvement, and as a source of information that teachers can use in instructional planning and students can use in deepening their understandings and improving their achievement.

The modern educational system is characterized by an increase demand for accountability and high-stakes testing. The demand for such accountability and testing is demonstrated in the quest for the use of summative assessments that provide a summary of the learning progress of students. Generally, the push for increased accountability and high-stakes testing has contributed to the use of different kinds of assessments that are administered at the state, district, school, and national levels. The use of these various kinds of assessments is not only geared towards realization of increased accountability but also act as a means for comparing and ranking students and schools. An example of the type of assessments that can be used in this process is formative assessments for various topics such as mathematics. Formative assessments are defined as systematic procedures of collecting evidence regarding students’ learning to inform teaching practices and help students progress towards the achievement of a learning goal. There are various kinds of activities used in formative assessments including group activities.

Recently, whenever I hear current teachers discussing about assessing students, ‘Formative Assessment’ is sure to be highlighted. Nowadays this method (formative assessment) is becoming popular among schools and is being applied widely in schools including my own school. Loughland and Kilpatrick (2015) identified in the few past decades, formative assessment has turned out to be the main goal for teachers and educational systems. On the foundation of Loughland and Kilpatrick (2015) findings and from my experience in the field of teaching, I found out nowadays teachers and school stakeholders strongly feel that formative assessment is the best method to assess in order to enhance students’ learning. For these evident reasons, I am interested in finding

According to the Department of Education (2010), technology is at the core of virtually every aspect of our daily lives and work, we must leverage it to provide engaging and powerful learning experiences, content, and resources and assessments that measure student achievement in more complete, authentic, and meaningful ways. In the current educational system, technology-based learning and assessment systems will be pivotal in improving student learning and

Chappuis & Chappuis (2007) states that formative assessment is valuable to academic success as it provides teachers an opportunity to adapt instruction by evidence, make changes and improvements that will yield immediate benefits to student learning. Moreover, teachers and students will utilize All in Learning – a software program that increases student engagement and provides teachers with real-time data for adjusting their lessons as needed. This program will ensure all students have access to rigorous, engaging curriculum & technology that promote accelerated learning & meets their individual needs.