Twitter Directory and Search, Find Twitter Followers. How Do We Train Teachers in Formative Assessment? - Teacher Beat. There's always a lot of interest among Education Week readers in the topic of "formative assessment.
" And despite some confusion over the research, there is at least general recognition that this aspect of teaching and learning has a lot of promise. So how on earth do we get teachers embodying the practice of formative assessment? It's a tough question that a few testing experts tried to tackle in a research forum held this afternoon in Washington by ETS, the nonprofit research and test-publishing organization. The forum focused on the obstacles standing in the door to preparing teachers to embody formative-assessment techniques, especially with the Common Core State Standards train approaching.
Let's back up a minute here to make sure we're all on the same page regarding formative assessment, a term about which there's a lot of debate. Why Formative Assessments Matter. Summative assessments, or high stakes tests and projects, are what the eagle eye of our profession is fixated on right now, so teachers often find themselves in the tough position of racing, racing, racing through curriculum.
But what about informal or formative assessments? Are we putting enough effort into these? What Are They? Informal, or formative assessments are about checking for understanding in an effective way in order to guide instruction. They are used during instruction rather than at the end of a unit or course of study.