Formative Assessment: Eliciting evidence that moves learning forward

Robert Q. Berry, III, Ph.D.Associate Professor

University of Virginiarobertberry@virginia.edu

@robertqberry

Goals

• We will focus on three key formative assessment strategies that support the Standards for Mathematical Practice:

– Engineering effective classroom discussions, activities and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning

– Providing feedback that moves learning forward

– Activating learners as instructional resources for one another (Wiliam, 2009)

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High Effect Strategies:What Works Best?

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Very High:0.67 – 1.44 ES

High:0.43-0.54 ES

Low: 0.17 – 0.29 ES

Very Low to Negative: 0.12-0.13 ES

Strategies to consider

Learning styles

Team teaching

Retention in a grade

Class size

Effective feedback

Homework

High expectations of students

Student-centered learning

Good questioning

Teacher subject knowledge

Vocabulary instruction

Ability grouping

Metacognitive strategies

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High Effect Strategies: What Works Best?

Very High Effect Size: 0.67 – 1.44

High expectations of students 1.44

Effective feedback 0.75

Metacognitive strategies 0.69

Vocabulary instruction 0.67

High Effect Size: 0.43 – 0.54

Student centered teaching 0.54

Good questioning strategies 0.48

Low Effect Size: 0.17 – 0.29

Homework 0.29

Class size 0.21

Team teaching 0.19

Learning styles 0.17

Very Low-Negative Effect Size: 0.12- 0.13

Ability grouping 0.12

Teacher subject knowledge 0.09

Retention -0.13

Using the Walls

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• Benefits:– Ability to see student’s work and assess

– It is harder for students to opt out

– Creates movement; add energy

– Encourages students to take risks as it is non-permanent

What is Formative Assessment?

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Definition: Key Characteristics:

Examples: Non-examples:

What is Formative Assessment?

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• What does Dylan Wiliam say about Formative Assessment?

What is Formative Assessment?

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• For today we are going to look at assessment as the gathering of data about a student’s learning.

• Assessments become formative “when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching to meet student needs”. (Black and Wiliam, 1998)

Engineering effective discussions, activities and classroom tasks that elicit evidence of learning

Eliciting evidence of LearningTask

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• The children in the Polya family are 3, 8, 9, 10, and 15 years old. What is their average age?

• There are five children in the Polya family of different ages. Their average age is 9. How old might the children be?

Eliciting evidence of Learning:Task

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• Round the following to the nearest whole number:

17.6 210.33 5.489

• My coach said I ran my race in about 12 seconds. What might my actual time be? Explain

Eliciting evidence of Learning:Task

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• In a survey of 1,200 people 3

4are Baltimore

Ravens fan. How many people are Baltimore Ravens fans?

• How do we open up this task?

Eliciting evidence of Learning: ABCD cards

Formative assessment is best described as

A. An assignment or activity that informs teachers and/or students what needs to be learned next

B. An assessment that is given marks by the teacher, but will not be counted in the final grade

C. Questions that provide a window into students’ thinking

D. Both A & C

Eliciting evidence of Learning: ABCD cards

A significant factor in formative assessment is feedback. The feedback most likely to improve student learning is feedback that

A. Is provided by other students

B. Is provided by the teacher

C. Provokes thinking

D. Both A & C above

Eliciting evidence of Learning: ABCD cards

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The primary consumer of assessment feedback should be the:

A. Teacher

B. Student

C. Parents

D. District personnel

ABCD cards: Feedback

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• Which angle is closet to 110 degrees?

A B

C

D

Eliciting evidence of Learning:

• My Favorite No

– What are the students’ doing?

– What is the teacher doing?

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Eliciting evidence of learning

• Frayer’s Model

• At the Wall

• Entry/Exit Slips

• ABCD Cards

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Providing Feedback That Moves Learning Forward

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Hitting the Mark

Feedback

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Feedback

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Consider the following:

• Why have so many people switched to using digital cameras?

• Why do people engage in playing video games?

Feedback: Actionable & Helpful

• In the table group, sort the feedback cards into categories.

– Create labels for your categories

• Talk at your tables:

– How did you sort the cards?

– Which feedback is likely to be most helpful to students?

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Feedback: Card Sort

Specific

Non-Specific

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Feedback: Research

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•Ruth Butler study (1988):• Butler, R. (1988) Enhancing and undermining intrinsic motivation: The effects of task-involving and ego-

involving evaluation on interest and performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 58, 1–14.

•132 low and high ability grade 7 pupils in 12 classes in 4 schools (3 per school w/in school random assignment)

–Pre-post design

•Same tasks, goals, classwork, and teacher

•Three kinds of feedback:

–Grades, Grades + comments, Comments only

Feedback: Research

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Type of Feedback Gains in Achievement

Grades only Almost 0%

Grades and Comments Almost 0%

Comments Only 30% Significant improvement at all levels

Feedback Research

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Type of Feedback Attitude changes

Grades only Top - positiveBottom - negative

Grades and Comments Top – positiveBottom - no change

Comments Only Top - positiveBottom - positive

Feedback Research

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• “Giving scores alongside of comments completely washed out the beneficial effects of the comments…”

• “This study shows that if teachers are providing careful diagnostic comments and then putting a score or grade on the work, they are wasting their time.”

Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning

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Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning

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• If students graduate from school still dependent on others to tell them their work is adequate then we failed them as a school system.

Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning

• Austin’s Butterfly

• Observe the role of feedback to move the learning forward.

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Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning

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• Five exemplars of an assignment/project from a previous class

– Students have to decide if some are better than others

– Rank the exemplars in terms of quality

– Create indicators describing the quality of the work

– Each group reports back to the class

Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning

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• Self Assessment:

– Homework Board

– Colored Triads (Got it; Not quite sure; Need some help)

– C3B4Me

Remember: the teacher is not the only source of information in the room.

Reflecting on What You Learned

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Return to Your Frayer Model

The Important Book

• The important thing about rain is that it is wet.It falls out of the sky,

and it sounds like rain,and makes things shiny,

and it does not taste like anything,

and is the color of air.

• But the important thing about rain is that it is wet.

Margaret Wise Brown, The Important Book

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The Important Thing…Formative Assessment

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The important thing about formative assessment is _______________________

– Really great detail #1

– Really great detail #2

– Really great detail #3

But the most important thing about formative assessment is __________________________

Contact Information

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Robert Q. Berry, IIIAssociate Professor

University of Virginiarobertberry@virginia.edu@robertqberry (Twitter)

Disclaimer

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a public voice of mathematics education, providing vision, leadership, and professional development to support teachers in ensuring equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students. NCTM’s Institutes, an official professional development offering of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, supports the improvement of pre-K-6 mathematics education by serving as a resource for teachers so as to provide more and better mathematics for all students. It is a forum for the exchange of mathematics ideas, activities, and pedagogical strategies, and for sharing and interpreting research. The Institutes presented by the Council present a variety of viewpoints. The views expressed or implied in the Institutes, unless otherwise noted, should not be interpreted as official positions of the Council.

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