Putting Ideas Into Practice

Assessment For LearningBlack, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, Wiliam

A Practical Application of Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment

“The more you teach without finding out who understands the information and who doesn’t, the greater the likelihood that only already proficient students will succeed.”

Grant Wiggins Eutopia April/May 2006

What is formative assessment?

• An ungraded approach to find out what students don’t know.

• A way to create a climate of responsible learning in students

• A strategy or tool used by a teacher to increase opportunities for student learning and to increase rigor

• A method to collect data to make informed decisions in the classroom

• Informal

• Teaching to meet learning needs

• Student centered

• Creates a climate of active learners

• Part of instruction/learning not assessment

What is Formative Assessment?

Formative Assessment is NOT

• Just another assessment in the world of accountability

• Meant to be graded

• Just one more thing to do in the classroom

• Something given without purpose

What changes are needed?

• From long feedback cycles to short feedback cycles

• From assessment of learning to assessment learning

• From quality control to quality assurance

• From teaching to learning• From regulating activity to regulating

learning

Suggestions for Action

• Frame questions that are worth asking

• Wait time has to be increased

• Follow up activities have to be rich

• Students should become more active as participants

• Students must discuss their own understanding

Resulting Changes

• Role of teacher

• Role of students

• Nature of subject knowledge

• Nature of learning

Why use Formative Assessment?

• To close the achievement gap

• To improve understanding

• To work smarter not harder

• To make students responsible for their learning

• To adjust teaching and learning

• To improve effective learning

Areas of Formative Assessment

QuestioningFeedback

Sharing LearningExpectations

Self Assessment and Peer AssessmentUsing evidence of learning to adapt instruction

Adapted from Dylan Wiliam, ETS, 2006

Questioning Strategies

Wait Time

• Mean wait time is .9 seconds• Simple, closed questions with

recall is common• Seeking answers from brighter

students is evident

Results of increasing wait time

• Answers from students will become longer• Failure to respond decreases• Responses are more confident• Students challenge and/or improve the

answers of other students• More alternative explanations are offered• Allows teacher to learn more about

background knowledge, gaps, misconceptions

(Questioning strategies, cont.)

Two kinds of wait time

• After the teacher questions and the student begins to respond

• After the student responds and when the teachers responds– Allow student to elaborate

Role of the Student

• To increase participation– Brainstorm ideas, perhaps in pairs, for 2-3

minutes before teacher asks for response

• No hands raised-teacher selects who will answer from entire class

• All participate

(Questioning strategies, cont.)

Set the Scene

• Start a new unit with what they already know

• Move away from routine of limited factual questions

• Refocus attention on the quality and the different functions of questions

• Use an open question or problem-solving task

• Prompt small group discussions

(Questioning strategies, cont.)

(Questioning Strategies, cont.)

• Don’t seek terms and descriptions

• Explore student’s understandings

• Allow for the exchange of ideas

• Provide a supportive environment

• Extend wait time

• Evaluate conceptual understanding

(Questioning strategies, cont.)

“Learning is not a process of passive reception of knowledge”Dylan Wiliam

Example Questions

• “Some people describe friction as the opposite of slipperiness. What do you think?”Students must justify their decision.What do you think of …..answer?What could we add to ….answer?Dean said…and Monica thought…but how

can we bring these ideas together?

(Questioning strategies, cont.)

Feedback

What is Feedback?

• Information quickly given to students about their understanding

• Information given to teachers from students about their understanding

• Written comments quickly given to students on work (often without grades)

• Students sharing their understanding and knowledge of the subject with each other

• Students can adjust misconceptions immediately

• Differentiation need is easily identified

• Students can be easily grouped by understandings

• Student understanding of concept is easily identified before moving to next topic during a class period

(feedback, cont.)

Benefits of Feedback

Traffic Light Icons• Red: little understanding• Amber: partial understanding• Green: good understanding

• Students hold up colored cards for quick assessment of where they are in the learning; group like students together to continue instruction

• Teacher asks questions of students (no hands raised)

• Use colored dots on papers to show understanding

(feedback, cont.)

ABCD Response

• Ask a multiple choice question

• Students discuss the question within group of 2 or more

• Group responds with letter answer

• Teachers asks students to justify their answer (no hands raised)

• Further study if needed

(feedback, cont.)

(feedback, cont.)

• Make constructive comments on written work• Provide action for the student to follow:

– Go back to your notes from…..and look up where chlorophyll is and what it does

– Well explained so far but go back and explain why ……

• Student must know how to improve work; a grade alone does not do that

• Comments with grade is not as effective; student ignores comments when grade is given

Feedback Using Written Comments

(feedback, cont.)

(Feedback cont.)

• plan meaningful activities and questioning strategies• have a strong knowledge of their subject• understand how students learn• understand where students will have

difficulty in understand the concept

Good feed back requires teachers to :

• Learning tasks must reveal students’ understandings and misconceptions and not mainly convey information.

• Comments should identify what has been done well, what still needs improvement, and give guidance on how to make the improvement.

(feedback, cont.)

What students say about teacher Comments

• Do not use red pen—students feel it ruins their work• Write legibly• Write statements students can understand

Sharing Learning

• Peer-Assessment– Homework checked – Well established routine– Disagreement openly discussed until

agreement reached– Exchange is in language students understand– Students accept criticism from other students– Group feedback strengthens student voice– Teacher is free to observe and reflect on

student’s work

(feedback, cont.)

Sharing Learning

• Students must learn how to properly behave in groups• Listen• Take turns

• Model Criteria for peer and self evaluation through comments• Peer assessment leads to self assessment to

include strengths and weaknesses• Students may be able to set their own criteria

Self Assessment

•After students have mastered Peer Assessment, students can begin evaluating their own work •Students use the same strategies in self assessment as peer assessment

Summative Assessment

•Use formative assessment strategies to aid preparation for summative tests•Use summative tests questions to identify learning targets•Use formative practice to support reviews•Use formative practice to develop more effective reviewing strategies•Students can assess through stop-light cards and identify their weakness and strengths

(summative assessment, cont.)

Review

•Using dots, color code areas of strength, weakness, not sure•Divide students into groups to study areas of weakness and not strengths•Students write their own test questions, answers and use with other students

Good questions may be used on test• After test, concentrate on items most missed and correcting could be done through peer marking

Students develops their own mark scheme

(Summative assessment cont.)

•Student action for test review•Students “traffic light” a list of key words or questions from a list of topics to be tested

Where to Start

• Wait Time

• Improve the quality of questions

• Implement richer dialogues in the classroom

Scaffolding Questions

• Students discuss questions in pairs before public answering of questions.

Agreement, challenge or alternate approach is discussed pair either consolidates or modifies

their original idea Small group work gives students

opportunity to discuss and scaffold• Teacher encourages comments• Student has further opportunity to evaluate or alter the idea.