Education ON Formative Assessment ON Formative
Readings fromEducational Leadershippulls together some of the best pieces on formativeassessment and feedback that will help educatorsOn Formative AssessmentThis collection of articles from Educational LeadershipONFormativeAssessmentReadings from Educational Leadershipunderstand how to best use the data they have at theirfingertips. The authors tell fellow educators about howto use formative assessment to shape the next phase ofEdited byinstruction and how to look for patterns in students’frequently make, and the signals that tell what individuals need, what groups of kids need, and what the wholeSchererassessments and assignments—the mistakes studentsMarge Schererclass needs. 13.95 U.S.Browse excerpts from ASCD books:www.ascd.org/booksAlexandria, Virginia USARead all current and past ELarticles at www.ascd.org/el.ADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION
1703 N. Beauregard St. Alexandria, VA 22311-1714 USAPhone: 800-933-2723 or 703-578-9600 Fax: 703-575-5400Website: www.ascd.org E-mail: member@ascd.orgAuthor guidelines: www.ascd.org/writeDeborah S. Delisle, Executive Director, Robert D. Clouse, Managing Director, Digital Content& Publications; Stefani Roth, Publisher; Genny Ostertag, Director, Content Acquisitions;Julie Houtz, Director, Book Editing & Production; Julie Huggins, Editorial Assistant; ThomasLytle, Senior Graphic Designer; Mike Kalyan, Manager, Production Services; Cynthia Stock,Production Designer; Andrea Wilson, Senior Production SpecialistEducational Leadership StaffMargaret M. Scherer, Editor in Chief; Deborah Perkins-Gough, Senior Editor; Kim Greene,Senior Associate Editor; Naomi Thiers, Associate Editor; Lucy Robertson, Associate Editor;Judi Connelly, Associate Art DirectorCopyright 2016 ASCD. All rights reserved. It is illegal to reproduce copies of this work inprint or electronic format (including reproductions displayed on a secure intranet or storedin a retrieval system or other electronic storage device from which copies can be made ordisplayed) without the prior written permission of the publisher. By purchasing only authorizedelectronic or print editions and not participating in or encouraging piracy of copyrightedmaterials, you support the rights of authors and publishers. Readers who wish to reproduceor republish excerpts of this work in print or electronic format may do so for a small fee bycontacting the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923,USA (phone: 978-750-8400; fax: 978-646-8600; web: www.copyright.com). To inquire about sitelicensing options or any other reuse, contact ASCD Permissions at www.ascd.org/permissions,or permissions@ascd.org, or 703-575-5749. For a list of vendors authorized to license ASCDe-books to institutions, see www.ascd.org/epubs. Send translation inquiries to translations@ascd.org.All referenced trademarks are the property of their respective owners.All web links in this book are correct as of the publication date below but may have becomeinactive or otherwise modified since that time. If you notice a deactivated or changed link,please e-mail books@ascd.org with the words “Link Update” in the subject line. In yourmessage, please specify the web link, the book title, and the page number on which thelink appears.PDF E-BOOK ISBN: 978-1-4166-2230-7 ASCD product #116065E4 n6/16See Books in Print for other formats.Quantity discounts: 10–49, 10%; 50 , 15%; 1,000 , special discounts (e-mail programteam@ascd.org or call 800-933-2723, ext. 5773, or 703-575-5773). For desk copies, go to www.ascd.org/deskcopy.23 22 21 20 19 18 17 161 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12ADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd iv6/6/16 5:16 PM
ESSENTIALSONFormativeAssessmentIntroduction: Seeing into the Minds of Students by Marge Scherer . . . . . . . . . . . . .11. How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning by Thomas R. Guskey. . . . .3The assessments most likely to improve learning are thosethat teachers create.2. The Bridge Between Today’s Lesson and Tomorrow’sby Carol Ann Tomlinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Ten principles for using formative assessments wisely.3. Seven Keys to Effective Feedback by Grant Wiggins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24What feedback is—and isn’t.4. Know Thy Impact by John Hattie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36The effects of feedback, although positive overall, areremarkably variable.5. Feedback That Fits by Susan M. Brookhart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46How to make sure your students hear your feedback.6. How Am I Doing? by Jan Chappuis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56By looking closely at students’ work, we can identify wherethey need help.7. The Perils and Promises of Praise by Carol S. Dweck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior.The right kind motivates students to learn.8. Formative Assessment in Seven Good Moves by Brent Duckor . . . . . . . . . .76From priming students to probing their responses—thesepractices make a difference in student outcomes.9. Feed Up, Back, Forward by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey. . . . . . . . . . . . . .87Everyone talks about feedback but feeding forward isimportant, too.ADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd v6/6/16 5:16 PM
viOn Formative Assessment10. The Right Questions, The Right Way by Dylan Wiliam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97“No hands up” and other ideas to help you elicit evidence ofstudents’ learning.11. The New Teacher’s Guide to Better Assessment by Mary Jo Grdina . . . . .105These basic steps can help teachers avoid common pitfalls.12. How I Broke My Rule and Learned to Give Retests by Myron Dueck . . . . .113Structured choices for retesting can motivate even the lowestachievers.Study Guide by Naomi Thiers and Teresa Preston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122Ideas to try out individually or in a study group.EL Takeaways: On Formative Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127ADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd vi6/6/16 5:16 PM
IntroductionSeeing into the Minds of StudentsIn a way, editors are in the assessment game, scrutinizing authors’ workwith an eye to selecting the best manuscripts and improving on them, ifpossible. Sometimes writers tell us that we “read their minds” becausewe helped them polish their final manuscript. But an editor’s kind ofassessment is a far cry from the way teachers examine students’ work.Teachers have something else in mind when they use what theycall “formative assessment.” Their primary aim is to read students, notarticles. They assess their students’ work to learn what their studentsknow and can do, with the main purpose being to help students to learnon their own.The practice of assessment has always been part of a teacher’srepertoire, but formative assessment has come into its own in the pastdecade. That’s one of the reasons we gathered this assortment of essential articles on formative assessment and feedback, which pulls togethersome of the best—and most clicked on—articles on these topics thatEducational Leadership has published.The articles provide insights into the purpose of formative assessment (Guskey; Tomlinson); the principles to follow for giving the mosteffective feedback (Wiggins; Hattie; Brookhart; Dweck); and multiplestrategies for using effective formative assessment in daily lessons(Wiliam, Duckor, Chappuis, Fisher and Frey, Dueck, and Grdina).1ADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd 16/6/16 5:16 PM
2On Formative AssessmentThese authors tell fellow educators about how to use formativeassessment to shape the next phase of instruction and how to lookfor patterns in students’ assessments and assignments—the mistakesstudents frequently make, the signals that tell what individuals need,what groups of kids need, what the whole class needs. And they present excellent advice about how to make your feedback more apt to beheard and acted upon by your students.Whether you are a new or experienced teacher, a school leader,a teacher educator, or a member of a professional learning community,we hope this collection of articles will help you reflect on ways to useassessment to more powerfully boost learning. And be sure to look fornew articles in Educational Leadership each month as we present thebest thinkers in education about topics of most interest to educators.If you have time, we welcome your feedback, too!—Marge SchererEditor in Chief, Educational LeadershipADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd 26/6/16 5:16 PM
3Seven Keys to Effective FeedbackGrant WigginsAdvice, evaluation, grades—none of these provide the descriptiveinformation that students need to reach their goals. Whatis true feedback—and how can it improve learning?Who would dispute the idea that feedback is a good thing? Both common sense and research make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhancesperformance and achievement.Yet even John Hattie (2008), whose decades of research revealedthat feedback was among the most powerful influences on achievement, acknowledges that he has “struggled to understand the concept”(p. 173). And many writings on the subject don’t even attempt to definethe term. To improve formative assessment practices among both teachers and assessment designers, we need to look more closely at just whatfeedback is—and isn’t.What Is Feedback, Anyway?The term feedback is often used to describe all kinds of comments madeafter the fact, including advice, praise, and evaluation. But none of theseare feedback, strictly speaking.24ADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd 246/6/16 5:16 PM
Seven Keys to Effective Feedback25Basically, feedback is information about how we are doing in ourefforts to reach a goal. I hit a tennis ball with the goal of keeping it inthe court, and I see where it lands—in or out. I tell a joke with the goalof making people laugh, and I observe the audience’s reaction—theylaugh loudly or barely snicker. I teach a lesson with the goal of engagingstudents, and I see that some students have their eyes riveted on mewhile others are nodding off.Here are some other examples of feedback: A friend tells me, “You know, when you put it that way andspeak in that softer tone of voice, it makes me feel better.” A reader comments on my short story, “The first few paragraphs kept my full attention. The scene painted was vividand interesting. But then the dialogue became hard to follow;as a reader, I was confused about who was talking, and thesequence of actions was puzzling, so I became less engaged.” A baseball coach tells me, “Each time you swung and missed,you raised your head as you swung so you didn’t really haveyour eye on the ball. On the one you hit hard, you kept yourhead down and saw the ball.”Note the difference between these three examples and the first three Icited—the tennis stroke, the joke, and the student responses to teaching. In the first group, I only had to take note of the tangible effect ofmy actions, keeping my goals in mind. No one volunteered feedback,but there was still plenty of feedback to get and use. The second groupof examples all involved the deliberate, explicit giving of feedback byother people.Whether the feedback was in the observable effects or from otherpeople, in every case the information received was not advice, nor wasthe performance evaluated. No one told me as a performer what to dodifferently or how “good” or “bad” my results were. (You might thinkthat the reader of my writing was judging my work, but look at thewords used again: She simply played back the effect my writing hadADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd 256/6/16 5:16 PM
26On Formative Assessmenton her as a reader.) Nor did any of the three people tell me what to do(which is what many people erroneously think feedback is—advice).Guidance would be premature; I first need to receive feedback on whatI did or didn’t do that would warrant such advice.In all six cases, information was conveyed about the effects ofmy actions as related to a goal. The information did not include valuejudgments or recommendations on how to improve. (For examplesof information that is often falsely viewed as feedback, see Figure 3.1below and Figure 3.2 on p. 30.)Decades of education research support the idea that by teachingless and providing more feedback, we can produce greater learning (seeBransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Hattie, 2008; Marzano, Pickering,Figure 3.1: Feedback vs. Adviceu Youneed more examples in your report.might want to use a lighter baseball bat.u You should have included some Essential Questions in your unit plan.u YouThese three statements are not feedback; they’re advice. Such advice outof the blue seems at best tangential and at worst unhelpful and annoying.Unless it is preceded by descriptive feedback, the natural response of theperformer is to wonder, “Why are you suggesting this?”As coaches, teachers, and parents, we too often jump right to advicewithout first ensuring that the learner has sought, grasped, and tentativelyaccepted the feedback on which the advice is based. By doing so, weoften unwittingly end up unnerving learners. Students become increasinglyinsecure about their own judgment and dependent on the advice ofexperts—and therefore in a panic about what to do when varied advicecomes from different people or no advice is available at all.If your ratio of advice to feedback is too high, try asking the learner,“Given the feedback, do you have some ideas about how to improve?”This approach will build greater autonomy and confidence over the longhaul. Once they are no longer rank novices, performers can often selfadvise if asked to.ADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd 266/6/16 5:16 PM
Seven Keys to Effective Feedback27& Pollock, 2001). Compare the typical lecture-driven course, whichoften produces less-than-optimal learning, with the peer instructionmodel developed by Eric Mazur (2009) at Harvard. He hardly lecturesat all to his 200 introductory physics students; instead, he gives themproblems to think about individually and then discuss in small groups.This system, he writes, “provides frequent and continuous feedback (toboth the students and the instructor) about the level of understanding ofthe subject being discussed” (p. 51), producing gains in both conceptualunderstanding of the subject and problem-solving skills. Less “teaching,” more feedback equals better results.Feedback EssentialsWhether feedback is just there to be grasped or is provided by anotherperson, helpful feedback is goal-referenced; tangible and transparent;actionable; user-friendly (specific and personalized); timely; ongoing;and consistent.Goal-ReferencedEffective feedback requires that a person has a goal, takes action toachieve the goal, and receives goal-related information about his orher actions. I told a joke—why? To make people laugh. I wrote a storyto engage the reader with vivid language and believable dialogue thatcaptures the characters’ feelings. I went up to bat to get a hit. If I amnot clear on my goals or if I fail to pay attention to them, I cannot gethelpful feedback (nor am I likely to achieve my goals).Information becomes feedback if, and only if, I am trying to causesomething and the information tells me whether I am on track or needto change course. If some joke or aspect of my writing isn’t working—arevealing, nonjudgmental phrase—I need to know.Note that in everyday situations, goals are often implicit, althoughfairly obvious to everyone. I don’t need to announce when telling thejoke that my aim is to make you laugh. But in school, learners are oftenADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd 276/6/16 5:16 PM
28On Formative Assessmentunclear about the specific goal of a task or lesson, so it is crucial toremind them about the goal and the criteria by which they should selfassess. For example, a teacher might say,The point of this writing task is for you to make readers laugh. So,when rereading your draft or getting feedback from peers, ask, Howfunny is this? Where might it be funnier?As you prepare a table poster to display the findings of yourscience project, remember that the aim is to interest people in yourwork as well as to describe the facts you discovered through yourexperiment. Self-assess your work against those two criteria using theserubrics. The science fair judges will do likewise.Tangible and TransparentAny useful feedback system involves not only a clear goal, but alsotangible results related to the goal. People laugh, chuckle, or don’tlaugh at each joke; students are highly attentive, somewhat attentive,or inattentive to my teaching.Even as little children, we learn from such tangible feedback.That’s how we learn to walk; to hold a spoon; and to understand thatcertain words magically yield food, drink, or a change of clothes frombig people. The best feedback is so tangible that anyone who has a goalcan learn from it.Alas, far too much instructional feedback is opaque, as revealedin a true story a teacher told me years ago. A student came up to her atyear’s end and said, “Miss Jones, you kept writing this same word on myEnglish papers all year, and I still don’t know what it means.” “What’sthe word?” she asked. “Vag-oo,” he said. (The word was vague!)Sometimes, even when the information is tangible and transparent, the performers don’t obtain it—either because they don’t look forit or because they are too busy performing to focus on the effects. Insports, novice tennis players or batters often don’t realize that they’retaking their eyes off the ball; they often protest, in fact, when that feedback is given. (Constantly yelling “Keep your eye on the ball!” rarelyADVANCE UNCORRECTED COPY—NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONOnFormativeAssessment.indd 286/6/16 5:16 PM
Seven Keys to Effective Feedback29works.) And we have all seen how new teachers are sometimes so busyconcentrating on “teaching” that they fail to notice that few studentsare listening or learning.That’s why, in addition to feedback from coaches or other ableobservers, video or audio recordings can help us perceive things thatwe may not perceive as we perform; and by extension, such recordingshelp us learn to look for difficult-to-perceive but vital information. Irecommend that all teachers videotape their own classes at least oncea month. It was a transformative experience for me when I did it as abeginning teacher. Concepts that had been crystal clear to me whenI was teaching seemed opaque and downright confusing on tape—captured also in the many quizzical looks of my students, which I hadmissed in the moment.ActionableEffective feedback is concrete, specific, and useful; it provides actionable information. Thus, “Good job!” and “You did that wrong” andB are not feedback at all. We can easily imagine the learners askingthemselves in response to these comments, What specifically should Ido more or less of next time, based on this information? No idea. Theydon’t know what was “good” or “wrong” about what they did.Actionable feedback must also be accepted by the performer.Many so-called feedback situations lead to arguments because the givers are not sufficiently descriptive; they jump to an inference from thedata instead of simply presenting the data. For example, a supervisormay make the unfortunate but common mistake of stating that “manystudents were bored in class.” That’s a judgment, not an observation. Itwould have been far mo
2 On Formative Assessment These authors tell fellow educators about how to use formative assessment to shape the next phase of instruction and how to look for patterns in students’ assessments and assignments—the mistakes students frequently make, the signals that tell what individuals need, what
--1-- Embedded Formative Assessment By Dylan Wiliam _ Study Guide This study guide is a companion to the book Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam. Embedded Formative Assessment outlines what formative assessment is, what it is not, and presents the five key strategies of formative assessment for teachers to incorporate into their
Performance Assessment Score Feedback Formative 1 Date . Formative 2 Date : Formative 3 Date . Formative 4 Date : Formative 5 Date . Formative 6 Date : Summative Date Implements learning activities aligned to chosen standards and incorporates embedded formative assessment. Clearly conveys objectives in student-friendly language so that the
Formative Assessment Best Practices Part I H Gary Cook, Ph.D., WIDA Consortium Elluminate Session, Pennsylvania Department of Education April 28, 2009 WIDA Consortium ELL Formative Assessment 2 Overview Definitions Balanced Assessment Systems Formative Assessment Best Practices ELL Formative Assessment 3 Definitions
assessment. In addition, several other educational assessment terms are defined: diagnostic assessment, curriculum-embedded assessment, universal screening assessment, and progress-monitoring assessment. I. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT . The FAST SCASS definition of formative assessment developed in 2006 is “Formative assessment is a process used
assessment professional learning system. They are stepping stones along the path. Part I. Learn About Formative Assessment 1.1 Inventory your comprehensive assessment system. 1.2 Clear up misconceptions about formative assessment. Part II. Plan For Formative Assessment 2.1 Identify elements of formative practice that you do well and those you
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT Formative assessment is any assessment that is used to improve teaching and learning. Assessment is a three-step process by which evidence is collected, interpreted and used. Best-practice formative assessment uses a rigorous approach in which each step of the
An assessment practice is only truly “formative” if the data is used to inform instructional practice and provide support to ensure student success. To learn more about formative assessment practices, visit the D PI Formative Assessment website, or utilize the Formative Assessment Professional Learning Modules .
formative assessment. Theoretical framework of the study Looking for a working description for formative assessment alongside summative assessment in the school setting, Madison-Harris, Muoneke and Times (2012) reviewed series of literature on formative assessment and concluded that "it is a systematic, continuous process
