Formative+Assessments

= **  ﻿ Formative Assessments **  = =** Formative assessments are an important part of the instructional process. These assessments are assessments for learning and should be an integrated part of instruction in the classroom. With formative assessments, teachers are able to gather potentially useful feedback which can be used to target further instruction or correct specific errors in real time. The data derived from formative assessments can help teachers plan lessons and design instruction to meet student needs and address weaknesses. Formative assessment allows for instructors to re-teach the material and make adjustments to their instructional strategies to improve student understanding. Additionally, formative assessments activate students as participants in their own learning by giving them opportunities to reflect on their work. **= More information on Formative Assessments can be found at these sites: [] []

Below are useful strategies and tools for using formative assessments in the classroom:

** 1.Checklists. ** S tudents can monitor their progress towards completion of a project or acquisition of skills with checklists. Checklists are a list of required activities or behaviors to ensure that the students are progressing as required toward completion of a project or a unit of study. These are usually teacher designed and are distributed to students at the beginning of an assignment or activity. These are very useful as process monitoring and self assessment for students to keep on track. They also allow students to reflect on their progress, making them active participants in their learning process.. Checklists are useful for teachers because they are easy to create and they can be closely matched to assigned tasks or objectives. Checklists are most frequently used for used for process or progress monitoring- they measure completion of specific tasks, but they usually do not measure quality of a student's performance on a particular task.

Another common use of checklists is teacher observation checklists – These are teacher created checklists of observable student behaviors designed to measure students completion of tasks or observable behaviors and attitudes. Again, these do not necessarily measure the quality of student work, but provide of record of observable behaviors.

Sample Checklists For PBL and projects - allows teachers to create online checklists for students: []

Sample teacher observation checklist: []

** 2. Conferencing. ** With conferencing, teachers meet individually with students to check on progress. Conferences can be formal or informal. Teachers will meet with students, ask questions to monitor their progress and provide feedback to students. Through conferencing, students can clarify concepts, ask questions, demonstrate their understanding and reflect on their work. These one-on-one discussions are a very effective method of monitoring student progress and they can also contribute to building positive student-teacher relationships. Through conferencing, teachers are able to observe and question students to get a better idea of their attitudes, thinking processes and level of understanding and direct student work as necessary.

The following site offers some sample questions for student conferences. ** [] **

** 3. Classroom Response Systems. ** This is a technology-based formative assessment product. These response systems must be purchased and can provide valuable feedback for teachers and students. Students use clickers to show understanding or contribute responses to teacher queries. These systems allows for teachers to immediately analyze student comprehension and provide appropriate feedback. A key benefit is that student responses are anonymous to other students. These links provide information on systems and classroom use ideas. []

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** 4. Exit cards or exit slips. ** This is a self assessment tool for students to complete about their progress towards completing a research project or new understanding of a topic. Teachers in all disciplines and all grade levels can use this strategy of assessment by asking students to fill out exit cards / slips at the end of a lesson or class period. Exit cards are teacher prepared slips of paper or index cards with a question or a sentence to complete which should reflect the students’ knowledge or understanding of class work. Exit cards can provide important information to inform the following days’ instruction, giving teachers an understanding of how many students understood the material, identify topics for re-teaching or inspire ideas for enrichment opportunities. A good site for information on exit card strategy is:

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** 5. Journals ** give teachers a chance to view student thoughts and questions and provide feedback as required. Students reflect on their own learning process through brief entries regarding the subject matter. In their journal writings, students are able to ask questions, reflect on their learning, express feelings, etc. Prompts can be given by teacher to address the content of the course or  gain information about students’ perceptions or reflections on their work.

Websites with ideas for using journaling techniques for assessment : [] []