Examples Of Formative Assessment

Effective classroom teachers use a variety of assessment instruments on a daily basis to determine student progress. Assessing the students is the easy part and can be ongoing or at specific times during the year. After any assessment is given, it is vital for the teachers to analyze the results of the assessment. Finally, teachers much continually monitor student progress in order to ensure student success. The assessing, analyzing, and monitoring requires planning on the teacher’s part. If teachers fail to plan, they plan to fail; this is the result in many classrooms today because teachers access their students and then do not analyze the data in order to monitor and document students’ learning.

Professional Knowledge Base Teachers

Formative assessment is a collection of practices that lead to some action that improves learning. It is the use of the information gathered, and how it is used to adjust teaching and learning that makes it formative. A study by Black and William (1998a, 1998b) revealed that the largest achievement gains used classroom discussions, classroom tasks, and homework to determine student learning and the action that would be taken to improve learning and/or correct misunderstandings, descriptive feedback with guidance, and students developing self- and peer-assessment skills. Formative assessments are a powerful tool for teachers and students alike. Some examples of formative assessment include summarizing activities, questioning, conferences, and response journals (Chappuis, 2009). Another type of assessment is summative assessment. Summative assessment provides evidence of student achievement for the purpose of making a judgment about student competence or program effectiveness. It is also used to determine how much students have learned at a particular time such as at the end of a nine

One way teachers and students can monitor and document learning in order to improve achievement is by using portfolios, computer software, and checklists. Portfolios show growth over a period of time. Students should be allowed to help decide which artifacts to include and know why they are wanting to include the particular artifacts. Portfolios can be used for parent-teacher conferences and can show growth from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year or even shorter time frames. Portfolios also promote active student learning (“Portfolios for Student,” n.d.). There are many software applications available for teachers to use. One example is Super Data Tracker. It allows teachers to input learning targets and students can track their own progress using iPads. Also, many software companies have tracking applications built into their software such as Accelerated Math and Accelerated Reading (“Tracking Student Progress,” n.d.). Once teachers and students have agreed on how they are going to monitor and document their learning, they need to decide how the monitoring and documenting can improve achievement. One way the monitoring and documentations can help to improve student achievement that it give the students the power to see their own learning. The fastest way to empower student is to give them things that matter in the