USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TO EMPOWER OUR STUDENTS

CTA Summer Institute 2016 at UCLA

Sarah Swift-Science Department Chair/Calaveras High School

Angie Jones- TOSA Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator/Calaveras Unified

The scandal of education is that every time you teach something, you deprive a [student] of the pleasure and benefit of discovery. -Seymour Papert

SHOUT OUTS AND CREDIT TO:

•  First and foremost, Margaret Heritage and her book,

Formative Assessment in Practice: A Process of Inquiry and Action

• Anthony Muhammad

•  Page Keeley

• CTA, Stanford and the ILC

• California Frameworks for ELA/ELD, Mathematics, and NGSS

OUR LEARNING GOAL TODAY:

I UNDERSTAND FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT AND HOW TO USE IT TO EMPOWER STUDENTS

TO OWN THEIR OWN LEARNING.

Our Success Criteria:

1.  I can differentiate formative from summative assessment.

2.  I can identify and explain the four main attributes of the formative assessment process.

3.  I can use a formative assessment strategy to help empower my students.

4.  I can reflect upon and better my own teaching practice.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

•  One purpose of assessment is to provide information about student learning minute-by-minute, day-to-day, and week-to-week so that teachers continuously adapt instruction to meet students’ specific needs and secure progress.

•  A second purpose of assessment is to provide information on students’ current levels of achievement after a period of learning has occurred. Such assessments—which may be classroom-based, districtwide, or statewide—serve a summative purpose and are sometimes referred to as assessments of learning.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT SEEN THROUGH THE LENS OF

ELA/ELD, MATHEMATICS, AND NGSS THERE ARE TWO TYPES, BASED ON PURPOSE:

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

•  FOR Learning

•  Short Term Cycle

•  Present to Future

•  PROCESS

•  Focus: Teaching and Learning

•  Close to learner/learning

•  Both Teacher and Student involved

•  SUM OF Learning

•  Long Term Cycle

•  Past to Present

•  TEST

•  Focus: Measurement & Accountability

•  Distant from Learner/Learning

•  Only Student Role

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

COMPARING THE TWO TYPES

CLARIFYING QUESTION:

HOW IS THIS ASSESSMENT DATA BEING USED?

The key difference between these two purposes of assessment

is how the information that assessment provides is used: Either

to guide and advance learning (usually while instruction is under

way) or to obtain evidence of what students have learned,

often for use beyond the classroom.

National Research Council [NRC], 2014

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT… MARGARET HERITAGE STYLE

1.  Children’s Rights should be at the heart of our approach to formative assessment

2.  European view vs. American educators

If students lack the resources to monitor their own learning and take corrective action, then they remain overwhelmingly dependent

on teacher feedback as the primary source for learning.

-Margaret Heritage-

SO WHO IS INVOLVED IN THE FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT PROCESS?

Both the Teacher and the Student play active, distinctive, yet complementary roles in enabling learning by consistently working to build and

consolidate student understanding and skills during the course of a lesson.

LEARNING IS THE PROPERTY OF THE LEARNER, AND IT’S TIME TO TRANSFER OWNERSHIP.

We need to shift our instructional practice to allow Both Teachers and Students to Collaborate on the

SHARED TASK of LEARNING.

THEN WHAT SPECIFICALLY IS FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT?

Formative Assessment is a deliberate process used by teachers and students during instruction that

provides actionable feedback used to adjust ongoing teaching and learning strategies to improve

students’ attainment of curricular learning targets/goals.

What is formative assessment? Formative assessment is a process teachers and students use during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching moves and learning tactics. It is not a tool or an event, nor a bank of test items or performance tasks. Well-supported by research evidence, it improves students’ learning in time to achieve intended instructional outcomes. Key features include:

1. Clear lesson-learning goals and success criteria, so students understand what they are

aiming for;

2. Evidence of learning gathered during lessons to determine where students are relative to

goals;

3. A pedagogical response to evidence, including descriptive feedback, that supports

learning by helping students answer:

Where am I going? Where am I now? What are my next steps?

4. Peer- and self-assessment to strengthen students’ learning, efficacy, confidence, and autonomy;

5. A collaborative classroom culture where students and teachers are partners in learning. _______________________________________________________________________________

Source Linquanti, Robert. 2014. Supporting Formative Assessment for Deeper Learning: A Primer for Policymakers. Paper prepared for the Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers/State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards, 2. Washington, DC: Council of Chief State School Officers.

ELA/ELD Framework on Assessment: Figure 8.2. What is Formative Assessment?

WHERE DOES FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TAKE PLACE?

•A collaborative classroom culture where students and teachers are partners in learning

•A safe place for learners to fail and succeed with a growth mindset

•Any classroom should be a place where we would want to spend time as an adult

WHEN DOES FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TAKE PLACE?

Assessment Cycles

Long cycle: Annual assessments, for example, are long-cycle assessments. They cover a year’s worth of learning and, by their nature, provide a large grain size of information about student achievement

relative to the Standards.

Some of the questions that results from these assessments can help teachers answer are:

•  What have my students learned? Have they met the standards assessed?

•  What are the overall strengths and weaknesses in my class’s learning?

•  What are the strengths and weaknesses in individual’s and groups’ learning?

•  What are the strengths and weaknesses in my/our curriculum and my instruction?

•  Have the improvement strategies I/we put in place worked?

Short-cycle: This cycle of assessment occurs when evidence of learning is gathered day-by-day from a variety of sources during ongoing instruction for the purpose of moving learning forward to meet

short-term goals (i.e., lesson goals). Short-cycle assessment provides the most detailed information for teachers to adjust their instruction or plan subsequent instruction, and for students to reflect on their

learning and adjust their learning tactics as needed. Short-cycle assessment should help teachers answer these questions:

•  Where are my students in relation to learning goals for this lesson?

•  What is the gap between students’ current learning and the goal?

•  What false preconceptions are evident?

•  What individual difficulties are my students having?

•  What are the next immediate steps in learning for my students?

•  What do I need to do to improve my teaching?

•  What feedback do I need to provide in order to help students move their learning forward?

Teachers are not the only assessors in short-cycle formative assessment. Students also need to be involved because ultimately it is the learner who has to take action to move learning forward. Short-

cycle assessment should help students answer the following:

•  Where is my learning now in relation to the learning goals for this lesson?

•  Am I on track to meet the learning goals?

•  What difficulties am I experiencing in my learning?

•  What can I do about these difficulties?

•  What are the strengths in my work? Where do I need to improve?

•  What are my immediate next steps to move my learning forward?

California Framework for Science, Draft Chapter Seven: Assessment of Student Learning, June 2016.

Assessment of Student Learning, June 2016.

ASSESSMENT CYCLES AND QUESTIONS ABOUT STUDENT LEARNING

•  Long cycle assessments should help teachers answer these questions:

•  Have my students met the standards assessed?

•  What are the strengths and weaknesses in my/our curriculum and my instruction?

•  Short-cycle assessment should help teachers answer these questions:

•  What is the gap between students’ current learning and the goal?

•  What feedback do I need to provide in order to help students move their learning forward?

•    •  Short-cycle assessment should help students answer the following:

•  Where is my learning now in relation to the learning goals for this lesson?

•  What difficulties am I experiencing in my learning? What can I do about these difficulties?

AND EVEN MORE IMPORTANT TO ASK?

WHY DOES FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT MATTER?

So much? Right NOW?

BECAUSE THE ONE REALLY COMPETITIVE SKILL

STUDENTS NEED, IS THE SKILL OF BEING ABLE TO LEARN.

-SEYMOUR PAPERT-

We need to Engage students and Teach them about how they learn so that we may empower them to own their own

learning and consequently, their own futures.

FOR TEACHERS… •  Our class sizes are increasing, not

decreasing (1:30 in K, 1:180 in HS)

•  New information about brain science and the way we learn

•  Growth Mindset & Metacognition

•  Need to teach both content and skills

•  Allows for more planning and less grading

•  21st Century Competencies

•  Collaborative workers

•  Critical Thinkers

•  Effective Communicators

•  Creative Solutions to Real-World Problems

•  Career and College Readiness

FOR STUDENTS…

WE NEED FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN OUR CLASSROOMS

“A one-size-fits-all approach to learning does not accommodate the diversity of learners found in our classrooms. This diversity means that we

need skilled teachers who, rather than standardizing learning for all, are able to respond

to students as individuals.”

-Margaret Heritage-

SO HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO THIS WORK?

FOUR ATTRIBUTES OF THE FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

What does it look like in a classroom?

We examine and follow the process

Formative Assessment: Understanding Congruence

file://localhost/.file/id=6571367.69334604

WE ARE MINDFUL OF THE CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF

LEARNING:

1. FEEDBACK

2. PEER ASSESSMENT

3. SELF-ASSESSMENT

EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK IS: •  USED by students

•  Timely, so as to still impact student learning

•  Helps students develop a repertoire of learning strategies

•  Too evaluative– You’re a good speller

•  Too general—Great work on the painting

•  Too reward focused—You deserve a star

INEFFECTIVE FEEDBACK IS:

GRADING IS NOT FEEDBACK!

PEER ASSESSMENT Peer Assessment Needs to be Taught

•  Provide ground rules and routines

•  Introduce in stages

•  Whole class feedback on exemplars

•  Model and discuss effective and ineffective feedback

•  Use sentence starters for academic talk

•  Peer assessment needs to be taught

•  Involves thinking about learning

•  Deepens understanding of own learning goals

•  Can support self-assessment

•  Fosters collaboration

SELF-ASSESSMENT: Self-Assessment Needs to be Taught:

•  Model awareness of confusion as an integral part of learning

•  Ask questions that encourage elaboration and deeper thinking

•  Build in reflection time during each lesson

•  Have students keep metacognitive journals or learning blogs

Involves:

•  Metacognition, which is the process of thinking about one’s own thinking and learning

•  Setting goals and reflecting on progress to guide future action

•  Adapting and developing learning strategies

Steal Like a Teacher

AN EXAMPLE PLEASE?

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN SCIENCE

•  Due to its conceptual nature and the impact preconceptions have on student learning, FA in science differs from other subjects.

•  Science teachers must have access to content specific tools that allow teachers to confront their students about their misconceptions.

•  Correcting these misconceptions before they have a chance to struggle, and think through their ideas, does not support conceptual change. Students will learn what is needed to be successful on tests, but it will not change their overall misconception.

•  We want students to engage in argument using evidence, and evidence is gained through doing and collaborating.

5 E LESSON PLANNING

PAGE KEELEY-QUEEN OF AWESOME

HOW DO YOU USE THEM?

•  Before launching into new subject material, probes are used to establish where students are coming from with their misconceptions.

•  Taking the time to ask these questions, and allowing students to grapple with their thoughts, will help teachers make better decisions about the paths they take to reach their learning goals.

•  Since these probes are promoting learning while simultaneously informing instruction, they should not be graded.

•  This is only successful when you have established a safe environment for students to learn and share.

USE A POST-IT TO WRITE YOUR ANSWER TO THE FOLLOWING

PROBE

Honor the process by making this a quiet, reflective process. You should not be sharing with your peers.

Uncovering Student Ideas in Science: Another 25 Formative Assessment Probes Vol.3 U n c o v e r i n g S t u d e n t I d e a s i n S c i e n c e

P h y s i c a l S c i e n c e a n d N a t u r e o f S c i e n c e A s s e s s m e n t P r o b e s

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7

Batteries, Bulbs, and Wires

Kirsten has a battery and a small bulb. She wonders how many strips of wire she will need to connect the battery and the bulb so that the bulb will light. What is the smallest number of wire strips Kirsten needs to make the bulb light up?

A One strip of wire

B Two strips of wire

C Three strips of wire

D Four strips of wire

Explain your thinking about how to light the bulb. Draw a picture to support your explanation.

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Picture:

THE TANGIBLE CONNECTION

Can you make a lightbulb work with a battery, a lightbulb, and one wire?

Work with a small group to test your claim, support your claim with evidence and create reasoning by linking your

claim, your evidence, and your scientific knowledge.

Claim+Evidence=Reasoning

REFLECTION & REVISION

•  Revision is crucial to the scientific process, and to the process of formative assessment in general.

•  It creates an atmosphere of trust in a classroom where students are willing and able to take risks.

I used to think:

 

 

 

But now I know:

 

 

 

 

© 2005 Template from Science Formative Assessment- 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning (Page Keeley)

SPEAKING OF SELF-REFLECTION: LEARNING GOAL AND SUCCESS

CRITERIA

•  Goal: I understand formative assessment and how to use it to empower students to own their own learning.

•  Success Criteria 1-4: 1.  I can differentiate formative from summative assessments. 2.  I can identify and explain the four main attributes of the

formative assessment process. 3.  I can use a formative assessment strategy to help empower

my students. 4.  I can reflect upon and better my own teaching practice.

•  ILC Reflection questions

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND ENERGY

ENJOY THE REST OF THE CONFERENCE!