What does Formative Assessment Look Like?
What does Formative Assessment Look Like?
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In a secondary math classroom, traditional formative assessment often takes the form of real-time feedback. As students work through problems, whether individually or in groups, the teacher circulates the room, observing student work, asking probing questions, and offering immediate feedback. This hands-on approach allows the teacher to identify misconceptions or areas of struggle instantly. For instance, while students are solving quadratic equations, a teacher might notice common errors in factoring and address them on the spot, providing students with alternative strategies or breaking down the process step-by-step.
Another effective formative assessment strategy in math classrooms is peer assessment and collaborative problem-solving. Students are often paired or grouped and given a complex problem to solve. As they work through the problem, they discuss their strategies, question each other's methods, and come to a consensus on the solution. This collaborative approach allows students to learn from one another, and the teacher can observe these interactions to gauge understanding. It's not just about the final answer but the process and reasoning that led to it.
Common Formative Assessment Strategies
Common Formative Assessment Strategies
Entrance Tickets
Entrance Tickets
At the start of a lesson, teachers can administer short quizzes to gauge student understanding of the day's topic. These quizzes can be multiple-choice, short answer, or problem-solving based. The student's answers give the teacher insight into how prepared students are to learn that day's lesson as well as their understanding of connection to previously learned material.
Think-Pair-Share
Think-Pair-Share
Teachers pose a question or problem related to the lesson. Students first think individually, then discuss with a partner, and finally, share their responses with the class. This method allows teachers to hear a range of student thinking and identify common misconceptions. Student communication and collaboration with their partners encouraged deeper understanding and self-directed learning.
Exit Tickets
Exit Tickets
At the end of a lesson, students might be asked to write down one thing they learned, a lingering question, or solve a final problem. This gives the teacher a snapshot of student understanding and informs the next steps in instruction.
Self-Assessment Checklists
Self-Assessment Checklists
Students use checklists to evaluate their understanding of specific concepts or skills. For instance, after a lesson on polynomial functions, they might rate their comfort level with various tasks, such as identifying the degree, factoring, or graphing. These checklists allow students to identify where their understanding may be weaker without the teacher being the authority of the student's level of mastery.
Peer Feedback
Peer Feedback
Students work in pairs or small groups and present their solutions or methods to each other. They then provide feedback based on criteria set by the teacher or the class. This method promotes collaborative learning and allows students to see multiple approaches to a problem.
Steps to Implementing Good Formative Assessments
Steps to Implementing Good Formative Assessments
Sometimes formative assessment opportunities are spontaneous during a lesson when a teacher identifies a need to check for understanding, however, the process of creating an effective formative assessment opportunity typically works as follows
- Define Learning Objectives
Clearly outline what students should know or be able to do by the end of the lesson or unit.
- Choose Appropriate Assessment Methods
Decide whether you'll use quizzes, discussions, observations, peer assessments, etc., based on the learning objectives.
- Design Quality Assessment Tools
Ensure questions/tasks are clear, relevant, and aligned with the learning objectives.
- Communicate Purpose to Students
Explain to students that the goal is to enhance learning, not to assign grades. This can reduce anxiety and promote genuine engagement.
- Administer the Assessment
Ensure that the environment is conducive to the chosen method, whether it's a quiet space for quizzes or a collaborative setting for group discussions.
- Gather Data
Collect students' responses, observations, or products.
- Analyze the Data
Identify patterns, common misconceptions, areas of strength, and areas needing improvement.
- Provide Timely Feedback
Offer constructive feedback as soon as possible, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement.
- Adjust Instruction Based on Findings
Modify your teaching strategies or revisit certain topics based on the assessment results.
- Encourage Student Reflection
Ask students to think about their performance, what they learned, and where they can improve.
- Iterate and Refine
Continuously review and adjust your formative assessment practices based on their effectiveness and student feedback.
- Seek Peer Feedback
Collaborate with colleagues to get feedback on your assessment tools and strategies.
- Document and Review
Keep records of assessment results and your reflections on the process to inform future instruction and assessment strategies.
Though these steps may sound formal, in many cases formative assessment steps are informal checks of student understanding. In the case of a think-pair-share formative assessment, "administer the assessment", "gather data", and "analyze the data" may look like asking the students to talk to a neighbor about a question, monitoring their discussions, and clarifying misconceptions and adjusting the next part of the lesson based on the conversations. In a more formalized formative assessment, these steps may look like a graded activity.
Citations
Citations
Abeysekera, L. & Dawson, P. (2015) Motivation and cognitive load in the flipped classroom: definition, rationale and a call for research, Higher Education Research & Development, 34:1, 1-14, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2014.934336
Baki, A. (2015). Integration of Technology into Mathematics Teaching: Past, Present and Future. In Selected Regular Lectures from the 12th International Congress on Mathematical Education (pp. 17–26). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17187-6_2
Gustafsson, P. (2023). Productive Mathematical Whole-Class Discussions: a Mixed-Method Approach Exploring the Potential of Multiple-Choice Tasks Supported by a Classroom Response System. In International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-023-10402-w
Lee, H., Chung, H. Q., Zhang, Y., Abedi, J., & Warschauer, M. (2020). The Effectiveness and Features of Formative Assessment in US K-12 Education: A Systematic Review. In Applied Measurement in Education (Vol. 33, Issue 2, pp. 124–140). Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.1080/08957347.2020.1732383
McCallum, S., & Milner, M. M. (2020). The effectiveness of formative assessment: student views and staff reflections. In Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education (Vol. 46, Issue 1, pp. 1–16). Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1754761
Pachler, N., Daly, C., Mor, Y., & Mellar, H. (2010). Formative e-assessment: Practitioner cases. In Computers &; Education (Vol. 54, Issue 3, pp. 715–721). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.09.032
Pryor, J., & Crossouard, B. (2010). Challenging formative assessment: disciplinary spaces and identities. In Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education (Vol. 35, Issue 3, pp. 265–276). Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930903512891
Qi Wu & Tansy Jessop (2018) Formative assessment: missing in action in both research-intensive and teaching focused universities?, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43:7, 1019-1031, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2018.1426097
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