Formative Assessment: revisiting the territory (original) (raw)
Related papers
2018
The use of formative assessments, or other diagnostic efforts within classrooms, provides information that should help facilitate improved pedagogical practices and instructional outcomes. However, a review of the formative assessment literature revealed that there is no agreed upon lexicon with regard to formative assessment and suspect methodological approaches in the efforts to demonstrate positive effects that could be attributed to formative assessments. Thus, the purpose of this article was to set out to clarify the terminology related to formative assessment and its usage
The Many Faces of Formative Assessment
2011
In this research paper we consider formative assessment (FA) and discuss ways in which it has been implemented in four different university courses. We illustrate the different aspects of FA by deconstructing it and then demonstrating effectiveness in improving both teaching and student achievement. It appears that specifically “what is done” was less important since there were positive achievement gains in each study.
Formative Assessment that Truly Informs Instruction
This book in IRA's Essential Readings series is a collection of research-based and peer-reviewed articles that have appeared in past IRA publications. Well-respected authors address various reading assessment topics such as the role of teachers, a historical view of reading assessment, the importance of formative assessment, and the consequences of assessment. Each article is followed by questions for reflection. Afflerbach discusses the importance of assessing the affective aspects of reading development as well as the cognitive, and notes that there is a decided lack of alignment between what we know about the reading process and how we assess it. (NOTE: This review was originally published in Talking Points.)
The Nature and Value of Formative Assessment for Learning
The this paper has two foci. The first is to present an account of how we developed formative assessment practices with a group of 36 teachers. This is then complemented by a reflection on the productive and positive experience of these teachers, in the light of learning principles, of changes in the roles of teachers and pupils in the task of learning, and of effects on the self-esteem and motivation of pupils. Attention then shifts to the second focus, which is on the ways in which these teachers struggled with the interface between formative assessment and summative testing. The conclusion is that the potential of enhanced classroom assessment to raise standards may never be fully realised unless the regimes of assessment for the purposes of accountability and certification of pupils are reformed.
Formative Assessment and All That Jazz
Formative Assessment and All That Jazz, 2008
This study investigates the collaborative development and use of formative assessment activities to inform teaching practice of Social Studies teachers in a U.S. high school. I developed a menu of twenty-two formative assessment activities based on literature from leading researchers in the field and from my nineteen years of teaching experience. A team of seven, 9th grade American Government teachers took part in the study and was surveyed regarding their use and perceived effectiveness of each activity throughout the five months of the study. Additionally, teachers kept written journals describing their use of formative assessment activities and the team of teachers met regularly to analyse survey data and discuss the implementation and effect of the activities. Teachers also surveyed students regarding their perceptions of the effectiveness of formative assessment activities. The findings of this research essentially indicate that formative assessment strategies, when engaged regularly and properly, are effective in informing teaching practice. Furthermore, the findings indicate that teachers who regularly collaborate about their practice are more effective and more likely to attempt new formative assessment strategies in their practice. This collaboration, within a supportive professional learning community, affords the practice of a more guaranteed and viable curricular experience for students as well as reflective and improved pedagogy among the teachers engaged in the study.
Formative Assessment Literature Review
Dr Rashid Nasser Al Maamari, 2014
This paper highlights the current differences among assessment experts in the way they perceive and define formative assessment. It stresses the need for an operational definition for formative assessment as a basis for any research study that investigates the impact of formative assessment on students’ learning and teachers’ instruction. It also summarizes the concerns that some experts have about the use of summative assessment and their argument for the use of formative assessment instead. The paper provides examples on some of the prominent formative assessment tasks in the literature along with purposes and characteristics of formative assessment. Issues and concerns about the validity and reliability of formative assessment are discussed and some of the arguments and counter-arguments of some of the assessment experts are highlighted. The paper also provided some recommendations as to how formative assessment should be implemented best. Finally, some literature on the impact of formative assessment on students’ learning achievement and teachers’ instruction is discussed.
Changing teaching through formative assessment: A Review
Bangladesh Medical Journal, 2016
The existence of a plethora of empirical evidence documenting the improvement of educational outcomes through the use of formative assessment is conventional wisdom within education. In reality, a limited body of scientifically based empirical evidence exists to support that formative assessment directly contributes to positive educational outcomes. The use of formative assessments, or other diagnostic efforts within classrooms, provides information that should help facilitate improved pedagogical practices and instructional outcomes. However, a review of the formative assessment literature revealed that there is no agreed upon lexicon with regard to formative assessment and suspect methodological approaches in the efforts to demonstrate positive effects that could be attributed to formative assessments. Thus, the purpose of this article was two-fold. First, the authors set out to clarify the terminology related to formative assessment and its usage. Finally, the article provides a ...
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT HAS TO BE MADE FORMATIVE: IT DOES NOT WORK ITSELF
In principle, summative assessment (SA) and formative assessment FA are employed in educational settings for distinctly different purposes. The former is used mainly for administrative purposes and the latter for promoting students' academic competence and developing their self-learning skills. Strong evidence, however, could be traced in empirical research available suggesting that in some settings the difference between the two is virtually unobtrusive. This paper will highlight formative assessment processes in a Saudi public university. Besides, it will investigate the extent to which formative assessment proved formative in raising the standard of students' learning, and how it was dealt with differently from its summative counterpart. The findings of this study are based on a mixed method enquiry. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from English-major students of the university. A survey was distributed among 600 students; of whom 465 returned their responses. The numerical data were analysed using SPSS software for mean and standard deviation. In addition, eight individual and four focus-group interviews were conducted. For further triangulation of the data, eighteen lessons of five different teachers were observed. The qualitative data were analysed employing a qualitative data analysis (QDA). The results indicated that, practically, there was no observable difference between how the students studied for the two kinds of assessment and how these different modes of assessment impacted on their learning. In addition, the two types of assessment were found to be dealt with in a highly similar fashion. Students did not receive adequate feedback. Therefore, the study has clear implications for the institutional approach toward formative assessment. Likewise, this critical state of affairs necessitates a complete overhaul in teachers and students' beliefs concerning formative assessment.
Developing the theory of formative assessment
Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 2009
Whilst many definitions of formative assessment have been offered, there is no clear rationale to define and delimit it within broader theories of pedagogy. This paper aims to offer such a rationale, within a framework which can also unify the diverse set of practices which have been described as formative. The analysis is used to relate formative assessment both to other pedagogic initiatives, notably cognitive acceleration and dynamic assessment, and to some of the existing literature on models of self-regulated learning and on classroom discourse. This framework should indicate potentially fruitful lines for further enquiry, whilst at the same time opening up new ways of helping teachers to implement formative practices more effectively.