Formative Assessment Paper

A formative assessment is an assessment that truly informs instruction. It can be formal or informal, provides feedback, low level vs. high level and allows for instructional changes to be made (McMillan, J. H., 2014). The definition of a formative assessment in the article of “Attributes of Effective 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). In this weeks recommended readings I found that formative assessments and monitoring progress go hand-in-hand. Educators and administrators can monitor and assess students learning and progress daily using ongoing

assessments along with timely interventions. Also, parent involvement can play a key part in the assessing students. Having parents be a part of the process can help with students learning and understanding of the content they are being assessed on. In comparing and contrasting the attributes of formative assessments I found that students need to learn and be able to take information about two individuals or things and see the similarities and differences they each have to one another. Student behavior and classroom management play a large part in assessments and their outcomes. Next, some examples of formative assessment I found this week.
In the three assessment chosen they are different because they are on different subjects and created a differently. The first assessment is on Reading and it includes multiple choice and true/false questions. The second assessment is on World History and it includes written response, matching term with definition, multiple choice and true/false questions. Finally, the third assessment is on Elements of Informational Text and includes matching, multiple choice, and true/false questions. Providing different types of assessments can help with identifying where the student or students are struggling. In my experience as a student multiple choice questions, even though there is only one correct answer they are usually worded the same but yet different so that confuses me and I know that it does my students as well. When we are using assessments we need to make sure that the information has already been gone over in class, we have provided the necessary tools to help our students answer the questions, and that the assessments are being aligned the curriculum. Furthermore, we need to make sure that the assessments are being created to measure our students critical thinking skills.