Effective Classroom Assessment: Linking Assessment with Instruction
Catherine Garrison & Michael Ehringhaus
Tools for Formative Assessment: Techniques to Check for Understanding http://www.bayces.org/fmd/files/03%20%20Formative%20Assessment%20Strategies.pdf
Assessment, Student Confidence and School Success
Journal article by Richard J. Stiggins; Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 81, 1999
Driving a car can be a daunting task. Nobody just sits behind the wheel of a car and is become an expert driver; they need constant practice at the skill. The article “Effective Classroom Assessments: Linking Assessment with Instruction” uses this analogy to illustrate the role of formative and summative assessments. It would be unfair if each time you got behind the wheel to practice driving you received a grade, and your final grade was an average of all of said grades. This would result in a low final grade despite your ability to finally master the skill.
This is how one should view formative vs summative assessments. Formative assessments are the practice rounds; they help show the learner if they are prepared to take the summative assessments. Therefore, increasing student engagement at these practice steps can be helpful in getting them ready for their final summative assessments.
Strategies to increase student investment on their formative assessments can include student record keeping and self/student assessments. Student record keeping helps the student visualize their progress in the class, and indicates how much studying needs to be done outside the classroom to prepare them for their summative assessments. This can help engage students in formative assessments and class work because it will shape their workload outside of class. Furthermore, whenever a student graphs their progress they are more likely to be invested in the overall process.
Self and peer assessments is helpful because it allows students to reflect on their practice within the classroom. When we get students thinking about how their class work is going, it will help them internally motivate themselves towards their classroom goals. Thus, one strategy for formative assessment can be having the students complete an exercise or mini activity in the classroom independently, and then having them grade themselves before you turning the assignment into the teacher. Having them grade their own work is a good way of having them become invested in the role of formative assessments, as it allows them to reflect on how well they know the topic being covered.
The article “Assessment, Student Confidence and School Success
” adds the importance of classroom observations as a role of formative assessments. Simply be circulating the room and watching students work can help give a temperature check as to the production of several of the students in the room. This allows the student to help those who need clarification or aid in getting back on track.
Finally, a finally assessment strategy found on the “Tools for Formative Assessment: Techniques to check for understanding talks about checks for understanding as a formative assessment strategy. Simply by asking everyone in the class a question, and having them touch a different body part to represent different answer choices to the question, can be a useful formative assessment strategy. This would allow the teacher to get a quick, all encompassing view as to the different levels of comprehension for the students in the classroom.
