The Journey – Improving Writing Through
Formative Assessment
Presented By:
Sarah McManus, Section Chief, Testing Policy & Operations
Phyllis Blue, Middle Grades English/Language Arts Consultant
Accountability Conference
February 11, 2008
In North Carolina…..
Where do we want to go?
Where are we now?
How do we close the gap?
Concern from the classroom?
Too much time spent on measuring the learning rather than promoting and
helping learning to occur
Most summative assessments look like “mini state tests”
Forced to “teach to the test”
Less motivated students
Focus on teaching and learning.
• Clear Purpose
• Clear Targets
• Sound Design
• Effective Communication
• Student Involvement
What is getting the most attention and what is getting left behind?
There is an emphasis on:
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•
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“The test”
State test results
Practice items
Alignment
Remediation
There is little emphasis on:
• Student learning
• Developing self-directed learners
• Increasing student motivation
• Delivering quality professional development for teachers
•content delivery
•classroom assessment
Aligned to State Standards
Statewide Assessments
(Summative)
Interim/Benchmark Assessments
(Summative)
Classroom Assessment
(Formative and Summative)
Support teachers in their efforts to use:
• Increased commitment to a high-quality formative assessment
as a process.
• Increase the use of descriptive feedback and reduce
evaluative feedback.
• Increase student involvement in classroom assessment
(formative and summative).
Focus on the Importance of Classroom
Assessment
• Guides students’ judgment of what is important to learn
• Affects their motivation and self perceptions of competence
• Structures their approaches to and timing of personal study…
• Consolidates learning
• Affects the development of enduring learning strategies and
skills
“It appears to be the most potent force influencing
education.”
Crooks (1988)
Standard IV: Teachers Facilitate Learning For Their Students
Teachers use a variety of methods to assess what each student has
learned.
• Teachers use multiple indicators, including formative and
summative assessment to evaluate student progress and
growth.
• Teachers provide opportunities, methods, feedback, and
tools for students to assess themselves and each other.
• Teachers use 21st Century assessment systems to inform
instruction and demonstrate evidence of students’ 21st
Century knowledge, skills, performance, and dispositions.
BALANCED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
A process used by teachers
and students during instruction
that provides immediate
feedback to adjust ongoing
teaching and learning to help
students improve their
achievement of intended
instructional outcomes.
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
A tool used after
instruction to measure
student achievement
which provides evidence
of student competence or
program effectiveness.
COMPARISON OF ASSESSMENTS
FORMATIVE
SUMMATIVE
•Occurs During Instruction
•Not Graded
•Process
•Descriptive Feedback
•Continuous
•Students & parents are
partners in the process
•Assessment for learning
•Occurs at the end
•Graded
•Product
•Evaluative Feedback
•Periodic
•Assessment of learning
Possible Assessment Methods
Formative Assessment includes
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Questions
Classroom Discussions
Learning Activities
Feedback
Conferences
Interviews
Student Self-Assessment
Summative Assessment
• Selected Response
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–
–
–
Multiple Choice
True/False
Matching
Fill-in
• Extended Written Response
• Performance Assessment
• Both formative and summative
assessment are valuable and
important
• Without both the classroom
assessment system is not balanced
Research
Research shows that if students are formatively
assessed, learning will improve. When learning
is improved, students are able to demonstrate
that learning in a variety of ways including
scoring well on standardized assessments like
the EOG and EOC.
Black and Wiliam (1998)
Products
Skills
Reasoning
Knowledge
©Copyright Educational Testing
Service/Assessment Training Institute
Feedback
Frequently feedback is used to push students to “do more” or to “do better,”
without being specific enough to help students know what to do. This type of
feedback is generally ineffective. (Hattie & Timperley, 2005)
Effective feedback points out successes and gives specific information about
how to improve the performance or product.
(Black & Wiliam, 1998; Black, et al, 2002; Bloom, 1989; Brown, 1994)
Intensive correction, where the teacher marks every error in every paper a
student writes, is completely useless. Marking all errors is no more
advantageous in terms of student growth than marking none of them.
(Hillocks, 1986)
When teachers substituted comments for grades, students engaged more
productively in improving their work. (Black, et al, 2002)
Key Goals for Comment-Only
Marking
Goal #1
Only feedback leads to higher learning gains
than grades alone or grades with comments
Goal #2
Focusing feedback (oral and written) on
success and improvement needs against
the learning target of the task leads to
students embedding their improvements
and applying them in subsequent work
Goal #3
Students need time to make improvements
on their work
Goal #4
Improvements should focus on either
1) Short-term improvement on the work marked,
or
2) Longer-term targets
Goal #5
Teachers should model feedback processes
aiming for maximum student control over
marking (self-monitoring).
Descriptive Feedback
Activity
Next steps…
• Join the Online Professional Development Community
• Increased commitment to a high-quality formative
assessment as a process
• Increase the use of descriptive feedback, reduce
evaluative feedback
• Increase student involvement in the assessment process
Q&A
Thank you!!!!
Contact Information
Sarah McManus
Section Chief, Testing Policy and Operations
NC Department of Public Instruction
Accountability Services Division
[email protected]
Phyllis Blue
Middle Grades English/Language Arts Consultant
NC Department of Public Instruction
[email protected]