The Importance Of Formative Assessment

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

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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.

During web based instructional design (WBID) and development, formative evaluation will occur from school experts including the schools technology manager, assistant principal of curriculum, and the business department chair. They will review the materials presented in the WBI (web based instruction) elements for design, content, graphics, structure, message, and technical specifications. Formative of the final WBI prototype will take place as a small group of students (one section) field test the WBI over a term. Test and assignment scores, student participation, surveys, and discussions with students will assist with determining the relative successes and failures of the program as well as areas that need improvement.

Assessments are vital to the educational process. They provide feedback about what the students know and what they may need to learn in order to obtain the content within a given curriculum. It provides teachers with a glimpse into the student’s readiness on a particular topic or subject. One of the six key principles of having an effective differentiated classroom is having a formative assessment that informs teachers on the effectiveness of their teaching. It also provides teachers with the readiness levels of their students and shows them exactly where the students’ readiness, interests, and learning profile needs really are (Tomlinson, 2014).

The first article that I viewed was on Edutopia and it was titled Why Formative Assessments Matter. This article was a very helpful in that it was a review of what formative assessments are, why they are used, and when and how you use them. The middle part, why they are used, it reinforces that they are used for, to inform, not to punish. This is important to remember as we are assessing and planning instruction for students each day. Learning and showing what you have learned should never feel like a punishment. At the end of the article, in the last section, there were suggestions on ways to formatively assess students in a way that would not feel as though they are being punished. Instead, they are enjoying showing what they have learned. The last tip in this article was to watch, look, and listen. It is important to remember that to formatively assess students you must constantly

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

In my short period of teaching, I have experienced many different types of assessments, those that were administratively required and personally selected. One particular style of assessments that I often use is curriculum-based measurement assessments (CBM probes). On a daily basis I test/quiz my students to make sure that they understand each required step to solve the problems. Sometimes this comes in the form of a quiz, and other times it is presented as a quick check that lasts about a minute long during my class. According to Kubiszyn and Borich (2013) the frequent administration of these brief formative test allows me to make daily adjustments to instruction, when needed, to maximize my students learning. As a result, curriculum based assessments are effective for my students because we can always go back and revisit a topic or concept

When a teacher introduces the idea of formative assessment to a classroom, modifications may need to be made for it to work its purpose. The teacher might need to alter their teaching method and the student will need to be open to changing their learning style to accommodate the change. If both the teacher and students can achieve this, then formative assessment will be successful (al., C. E., 2016). If unsuccessful then formative assessment can be seen by both the teacher and student in a negative light. For example, The Classroom Experiment (Barry, 2010), showcased a range of different formative assessment techniques that can be quite successful in the classroom. One technique that Dylan Wiliam posed was that the teachers give each student

The first thing to learn about formative assessment from the video "Unpacking Formative Assessment" is that it is a complex process, consisting of five major strategies, such as fixing and adjusting learning intentions, questioning, providing regular feedback, activating self, and activating peers. Another major learning form the video related to the formative assessment process is the importance of setting individual goals for students as they tend to think in different directions. Another important thing that I learned is that the majorities of teachers tend to spend their time designing methods and strategies of formative assessment and do not take into consideration the fact the formative assessment is not the most important aspect of learning

Formative assessments are unique in that they can be quick, do not necessarily have to be graded, and can be used as an ongoing way to check for understanding (Swearengin, 2002). I keep these considerations in mind when I implement quick exit tickets, ungraded activities, and various types of questioning. I check for understanding because it identifies the students that are struggling and the content that is posing problems for many individuals. In my opinion, many teachers have become too concerned with grades, rather than checks for understanding, and often forget that formative assessments do not have to create more work for the teacher. In fact, they assist the teacher in modifying and improving his or her instruction so that student achievement will increase (Wiggins, 2006).

Focus questions: Teachers are responsible for creating a set of questions in a specific order which is used as a tool for evaluating understanding checklist. The teacher initiates the questions with simple concepts and steadily move towards a complex level, whereas students give answers when asked individually by the teacher or as a class where visual cue indicates their answer. After this activity students are assessed based on the answer given against the questions.

In order for teachers to use formative assessment effectively there must be these components: it must be incorporated into each lesson, must have student involvement, must collect information on student performance to determine if outcomes are meet, must give the teacher feedback to help shape and guide student learning, and must give the student feedback to help them reflect upon their learning. Anecdotal Records, Quizzes, Portfolios, and Student-Led Conferences all meet the components of an effective formative assessment and are applicable within a Social Studies classroom.

A. Pre-assessment/Assessment of Prior Knowledge- 1. Students may have misconceptions or misunderstanding about the drinking water shortages in some places on Earth. Students may not understand how the temperature of the water will affect the salinity of the water. Students may misunderstand information about the Gulf Stream and they may think that it is located in the Gulf of Mexico. Another partial understanding students may have is how the sloping of the ocean floor affects the wave heights. Lastly, students may have a misconception about the subsurface geologic features of the oceans compared to geologic features of the World, like volcanoes and ocean trenches.

Success criteria are also just as important as the learning objective as this is the ingredients to ensure that the children succeed at every stage and when being assessed by their teachers (formatively) they can show to have met or exceeded their target. If pupils are involved in the stage of writing the success criteria then this ensures greater success.