A Role for Formalized Tools in Formative Assessment Bob Dolan, Senior Research Scientist, Pearson...

A Role for Formalized Tools in Formative Assessment

Bob Dolan, Senior Research Scientist, Pearson [email protected]

CCSSO NCSA | National Harbor | June 22, 2013

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2

Unpacking Formative Assessment

What it is

A process for using data about students to improve their classroom learning opportunities.

What it isn’t

An assessment instrument alone.

Importance of Robust Information About Students and their Learning• The quality of instructional decision-making is limited by the

quality of the data it is based on• Wealth of information of how evidence of student learning

can be generated to support formative assessment– Classroom discussions and responses to questions– Student work: products, performances– Student self- and peer-evaluation– One-to-one student interviews– …


Role for Formalized Tools

• Formalized tools can play an educative and supportive role for teachers by codifying content and representing ideas about students to improve the information used to guide instruction (Wylie & Dolan, 2013)– Codify—give form or shape to—ideas that come from the

cognitive / learning sciences research, in a way that is accessible to and usable by teachers

• Premise is not that formalized tools should serve as formative assessment, but rather in support of the teacher-led formative assessment process


Educative Role for Teachers

• Modeling what would be an appropriate evaluation of a student vis-à-vis a standard, a misconception, or an aspect of a learning progression

• Modeling of appropriate use of evaluative information in shaping instruction

• Of particular value for less experienced teachers who have had insufficient time to develop a sense of how student understanding around various concepts develops over time


Supportive Source of High-quality Evidence

• Evidence of student learning in a way that teachers can easily access, process, and use to inform next instructional steps

• Use of research-based, field-tested evaluative instruments—including diagnostic assessments and assessments based on carefully developed learning progressions—can improve identification of gaps in student knowledge and skills, and what to do about it

• Assessment development techniques such as evidence-centered design can be applied during the instrument development to improve the validity of interpretations based on student work and interactions

• Accurate evaluation of a more diverse set of students than teachers may have the opportunity to gain experience with, including students with disabilities and English learners


Conclusion

• Formalized tools can provide an educative and supportive role for teachers to improve the formative assessment process– The fact that some assessment instruments have been

mislabeled or repackaged as “formative assessments” does not discount a role for use of formalized tools

• Formalized instruments must be designed with teachers and students in mind– E.g., allow teachers decide when and how to deploy particular

tools within a formative assessment context

• Adequate training and support for teachers is essential for effective use of formalized tools and incorporation it into their own instructional practices



Definitions of Formative Assessment

We use the general term assessment to refer to all those activities undertaken by teachers—and by their students in assessing themselves—that provide information to be used as feedback to modify teaching and learning activities. Such assessment becomes formative assessment when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching to meet student needs (Black & Wiliam, 1998 p. 140)

Assessment carried out during the instructional process for the purpose of improving teaching or learning (Shepard, Hammerness, Darling-Hammond, Rust, Snowden, Gordon, Gutierrez & Pacheco, 2005 p. 275)

Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students' achievement of intended instructional outcomes (CCSSO, 2008)

What Do We Mean by “Formalized Tools”?

• A tool not directly developed by the teacher but one he or she can leverage during the formative assessment process

• Examples– Individual questions developed based on an understanding of

how students learn– Item banks from which teachers can select items to develop

short classroom assessment and quizzes– Educational games and activities with embedded or “stealth”

assessments (Shute, 2011; Behrens & DiCerbo, 2013; Wainess, Koenig, & Kerr, 2011)

– Just-in-time professional development to support teachers integrate the tools into their instruction


A Role for Formalized Tools in Formative Assessment Bob Dolan, Senior Research Scientist, Pearson...

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