Formative Assessment

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The Effects of Formative Assessments in the Mathematics Classroom
Brant Breeding
Arkansas State University Abstract
Teachers use formative assessments in the classroom to help determine when and how to modify adapt lessons to better serve students. Some examples of formative assessments are questioning, discussions, exit/admit tickets, bell ringers, homework, and quizzes. Formative assessments can be graded, but they are typically ungraded and do not effect a student’s grade. When ungraded they are for the sole purpose of monitoring student progress. It is important to be able to determine whether or not students understand a concept. Do you need to back up, try a different approach, or is it time to move on? Formative assessments …show more content…

Some teachers only think of summative assessments that are used for reporting grades. When used this way, assessments do not lead to learning. If teachers will effectively use formative assessments to provide students with timely feedback and individualize instruction based on assessment feedback, it will result in enhanced learning (Brink & Bartz, 2017). In order for this to happen schools need to develop a culture of formative assessment. Teachers need to be trained in the use of formative assessments and administration will need to cultivate this change in culture (Brink & Bartz, …show more content…

One class will be taught with minimal formative assessments. I will plan formative assessments to be used in the other class. I will also keep data on the type of formative assessments used in order to determine which has the strongest effect on student learning. The students in the two classes are juniors and seniors who have qualified for College Algebra by scoring at least a 21 on the math portion of the ACT. There are 23 students in one class and 26 in the other. They are approximately evenly distributed according to gender. The study will take place over an entire semester, so I can record the outcomes of different types of formative assessments. At the end of the semester I will conduct a survey of the two classes asking questions that pertain to their perceptions and attitude toward the

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