Office of School ImprovementDifferentiated Webinar Series

Formative AssessmentMarch 19, 2012

Dr. Dorothea Shannon, Mrs. Thomasyne Beverly

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The ultimate goal in school improvement is for the people

attached to the school to drive its continuous improvement for the sake of their own children and

students.- Dr. Sam Redding

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Today’s Agenda

1. Welcome2. Team reporting3. Research regarding the Formative Assessment4. Activity/Discussion for participants related Formative

Assessment5. Reflections on FA professional development

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Purpose

•To review the goals from 2010- 2011 web sessions.

•To identify the 4 modules of the formative assessment professional development from 2010-2011 school year.

•To discuss status of formative assessment professional development in each school.

• To reflect on successes/challenges of FA professional development

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Formative Assessment Goals 2010-2010 To explore teachers’ perception of assessments and how

these perceptions influence current practices. To examine how to create a culture within the school that

recognizes and values the role of formative assessments in student achievement.

To investigate ways to develop partnerships with students to provide them with quality feedback in order to increase their achievement.

To develop an understanding of formative assessment. To identify ways that formative assessment can inform

instruction to improve student achievement.

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Goals continued . . . To understand the difference between

formative assessment and summative assessment.

To identify strategies for incorporating formative assessment into your improvement plan (there are now 27 FA indicators on Indistar)

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Formative Assessments mModules

Assessment for learning

Checking for understanding

Feedback

Uncovering misconceptions

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Team Reporting

Select one member of your team to share the following information:

1.How many FA modules on the TeachFirst /Editure site did you complete?2.Which training did you have the most success with (student achievement improved as a result of the PD)? Where did you have the most challenges?3.What has changed in your school as a result of the FA professional development?

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What the Research Says

“Successful formative assessment involves changing perspective and enhancing current practices by providing relevant descriptive feedback to students; developing greater student understanding of learning goals; and valuing the quality of student work over quantity. ( Black and Wiliam, 1998)

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Overall Student ImprovementTaken from Butler, Ruth. 1988 British Journal of Educational Psychology

Group Type of Feedback

Improve-ment from lesson 1 to 2

Attitude about the work of high and low achievers

A Comments only 30% gainHigh-positive; low - positive

B Grades only No gainHigh-positive;Low –negative

C Grades and comments

Negative gainHigh-positive; low-negative

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What students recall about feedbackTaken from Butler, Ruth. 1988 British Journal of Educational

Psychology

What students recalled Comments only group Comments & grade group

Failed to recall 16% 19%

Recalled comments 84% 5%

Recalled grade n/a 23%

Recalled grade and comments n/a 53%

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Source: Snow-Renner, R. & Lauer, P.A. (2005). Professional Development Analysis. McREL Insights, 1-24.

• Extended duration;

• Focused on specific content and/or instructional strategies rather than general;

“When a comprehensive assessment program balances formative and summative student assessment student learning/achievement information, a clear picture emerges of where a student is relative to learning targets and standards. Students should be able to articulate this shared information about their own learning. The more we know about individual students as they engage in the learning process, the better we can adjust instruction to ensure that all students continue to achieve.” (Garrison and Ehringhaus, 2003)

What the Research Says

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What was one idea I learned during today’s webinar that I

plan to share with teachers at my

school?

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