Formative Assessments

I believe assessment is important and is the basis of planning for instruction, whether it is diagnostic prior to learning, formative during units or lessons, or summative to evaluate student learning. Rowan’s quote in Every Teacher’s Guide to Assessment, "After all, in the end, the problem is less the idea of testing itself, but how we design them, apply, them, and make use of their data." definitely has an impact on my assessment practices. I feel it is necessary to make sure the student acquires all aspects of the learning. Assessment should be used to bring a value for students. Within my instruction, I implement daily formative assessments which may include turn and share, quick writes, graphic organizers, online discussion responses, KahootIt, and other forms. Designing the appropriate formative assessment to match the lesson is important to assess how the learning is taught and whether the students are showing progress. In addition, I have worked on building blocks of formative assessments in checklist style leading up to the point of reviewing for a summative test. Each of these are checked off as completed and instant feedback is given. Feedback from an assessment is essential to student learning and how a teacher will ensure the content is being acquired.

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 study concluded, “The results of such studies suggest that homework can improve students’ scores on the class tests” (Cooper). When looking at the conclusion of the study, it is easy to correlate studying at home with a students’ academic success. The study also found that, “The correlation was stronger for older students” (Cooper). Cooper also states, “Across five studies, the average student who did homework had a higher unit test score than the students not doing homework” (Cooper). When reading Cooper’s study, it is very important to differentiate those who do the homework given between those who do not complete the homework assigned. Students who receive homework but do not complete it take away from the overall effect it would have had if that said student completed the given assignments. It is also important to keep in mind the fact that the amount of time spent on homework each night is increased per capita as grade level is increased. The assigning of homework should fluctuate depending on grade level. Due to an earlier stage in brain development, a second grade student should not be assigned the same amount of homework as a college student. Referencing studies and research, it is logically sound to conclude that homework helps students absorb and retain information compared to those who do not complete it. 20/20

Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting further student learning and enabling improved student learning through purposeful interaction and providing meaningful feedback. Formative assessment is specifically intended to generate feedback and feed forward on performance to improve, accelerate and enable learning (Sadler, 1998). Formative assessment can and should occur throughout a daily class, through implementation of learning and teaching strategies that lead to both oral and written feedback. The Formative assessment approach is equitable and reliable, producing some significant indicator of student developed understanding that links directly to the syllabus outcomes. This then allows the teacher or other students to respond by trying to

In the classroom we assess formally through assignments, tests, quizzes, performances, projects, and surveys; or informally through questioning and dialogue, observing, and anecdotal note taking. In any of these instances, we may or may not be engaged in formative assessment: the determining factor is not the type of assessment we use, but rather how we and our students use the information.

This article discusses the differences of formative and summative assessments; when to practice them and in what way would formative and summative assessments benefit both teacher and student. According to the article, “Formative assessment is a part of the instructional process. When incorporated into the classroom practice it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening” (Garrison & Ehringhaus, 2009). Formative assessment informs both teacher and student where adjustments can be arranged. Examples of formative assessment can be asking students higher thinking questions, group discussions and assignments with no point value. “Summative assessments are given periodically to determine at a particular point in time what students know and do not know” (Garrison & Ehringhaus, 2009). Summative assessments usually have a grade. Examples of summative assessments are; state assessments, benchmarks and standardized tests. Summative assessments are a means of measuring a students’ capacity. It is crucial that both forms of assessments are used in the classroom, one assessment without the other is ineffective.

Formative assessment, which was used to help improve teaching and learning, can be viewed as an effective way to determine and improve the quality of learning within the classroom (Black and Wiliam, 2009). However, it could be argued that formative assessment is infrequently used within the classroom, suggesting that summative assessment is the focus within education, as it helps to capture accurate results which can be compared against a specific standard (Graham et al., 2017) (Marsh, 2007). This is also exemplified in the work undertaken by Yan and Cheng (2015) as they state that some teachers may give up on the adoption of formative assessment due to short time-frames and the pressures of summative examinations. William and Black (1996), Torrance and Pryor (2001) and Taras (2008) observe that formative assessment eventually leads into summative assessment, as learning

Black and Wiliam (1998) highlighted the power of assessment to provide feedback, the importance of social context of learning, and some issues related to distinction between the formative and summative purpose of assessment. They also found the beneficial effects of formative assessment toward students learning have been well documented in the literature. However, Hattie and Jaeger (1998) criticize Black and Wiliam’s review because their position strongly supported the importance of assessment and feedback for teaching while neglecting learning. Hattie (2005) suggests assessment is about teaching as much as it is about learning. For formative assessment to deliver its promise, feedback must relate to how students learn. According to Hattie, a comprehensive theory of formative assessment must include a theory of learning because it is not necessarily the learner who has a problem; it may the teacher or teaching that needs remediation. Whereas, Popham (2008) defines formative assessment as a planned process during which the teacher or students use assessment-based evidence to adjust ongoing learning and instruction. Further, Hattie and Jaeger (1998) proposed five postulates of formative

Formative assessment was first used by Scriven (1967), but studies focused on formative assessment in ESL and EFL classes started in 2000. Among very few studies on formative assessment practices includes the ones of Gattullo (2000) Ruiz‐Primo & Furtak (2007), Pham (2012), Buyukkarci (2014) and Wubshet & Menuta (2015).

Formative assessments can encourage students; it also gives them a greater sense of ownership. Formative assessments are a process in which evidence of students learning is gathered and instruction is modified and given feedback (Cauley & McMillan, 2010). Formative assessment holds an emphasis on instructional modifications and student improvement. It is key to a student motivation and a student achievement (Cauley & McCillan, 2010). In order for formative assessment to work properly, the environment needs to be supportive and trusting. Formative assessment is a planned process. The teacher most consciously and constantly takes in evidence of a student’s performance, and then the teacher needs to use that information to help the students (Cauley & McCillan, 2010). Students will grow and begin to create their own definitions of quality work (Bruce, 2001). Schools should be more organized so they can keep track and identify the at-risk students (Neild, Balfanz, & Herorg, 2002). Without early intervention students will not succeed, it is essential to have early intervention in schools (Balfanz, Herog, Iver, 2007). For teachers and school to be successful in finding these students they first need to know what the signs are and when to look for them. The third challenge that falls on the school and teachers is trying to figure out what the student needs in order to help them because not every student will need the same interventions (Neild, Balfanz, Herog, 2007). When

“the process used by teachers and students to recognize and respond to student learning to enhance that learning, during the learning” (Cowie & Bell, 1999, p. 32) is one way to define formative assessments. This definition stresses the idea of formative assessment being a continuous process which should improve teaching, learning, and achievement. Therefore, when reflecting upon the assessment strategies observed within my classroom to be most the effective in progressing learning the one thing that comes to my mind is a formative assessment. The best way to understand formative assessment is by comparing it and contrasting it with summative assessments. In this essay, I will critically analyze how formative assessment may be used

Borgioli et al. (2015) suggest that formative assessment is an important part of ensuring that students’ can be monitored throughout their education, with those who are improving to higher standards being constantly challenged in new ways; but also for those who are struggling this can help to pinpoint which they are having problems and how to properly support them. William (2007) developed ‘five keys’ which are required for there to be effective assessment: 1) clarifying, sharing, and understanding goals for learning and criteria for success with learning; 2) Engineering effective classroom discussions, questions, activities, and tasks that elicit evidence of students’ learning; 3) Providing feedback that moves learning forward; 4) Activating students as owners of their own learning; and 5) Activating students as learning resources for one another.

I believe that assessments are vital to generating data in order to inform instruction. To this end both formative and summative assessment instruments must be administered on a regular basis to monitor student academic progress. This enables one to judge the student's academic progress against content standards and make adjustments throughout the year as needed. By differentiating instruction lessons can be adjusted to meet each student's enrichment and remedial needs and each student will be academically challenged at their level. The key to student success is teacher expectations. The more we expect of our students the greater their achievements.

It can improve students’ academic achievement. Homework gives students opportunities to apply, demonstrate or practice what they have learned in class. With that, students are further instilled or mastered the knowledge or skills. When comes to their examination, they can score well because they have the knowledge in their mind of what their teachers had thought them in class. Besides academic achievement, Students will also build a stronger relationship between them and people. When students are having problems with their homework, it enables students to seek for assist. The source of the assist come from family, friends, classmates or even teachers. Homework is useful for parents too as they are able to have an idea of their child’s education so that parents are aware of what is their child learning. Most of the parents are concern of what their child is going on at school and parents can use the chance to ask their child about the school when they are assisting their

Formative assessment is an active and intentional learing process that joins teacher and student frequently and systematically to gather evidence of learning with the direct goals of improving student achievement (ref1). Formative assessment can be split into two types of learning tools. First one being an instructional tool which teacher and their students use while learning is occurring. Two which is a accountably tool is to ensure what has been taught has been learnt by the students. Interrelated forms of formative assessment will allow teacher/educators to design summative assessment that achieve the education goals and purpose however relating to their students. To insure that informal judgments of students achievements are being recorded and observed early research have centered on several