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. What this means is that if we are about getting to the end, we may lose our audience, the students. We are all guilty of this one -- the ultimate teacher copout: "Are there any questions, students?" Ever assign the big project, test, or report at the end of a unit and find yourself shocked with the results, and not in a good way? To Inform, Not Punish Believe me, I've been there: wanting to punish the lazy, the cocky, the nonchalant. When and How? Exit Slips
Classroom Assessment | Basic Concepts A. Formative vs. Summative Assessments Classroom assessments can include a wide range of options -- from recording anecdotal notes while observing a student to administering standardized tests. Formative assessments are on-going assessments, reviews, and observations in a classroom. Summative assessments are typically used to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs and services at the end of an academic year or at a pre-determined time. The following table highlights some formative and summative assessments that are common in K12 schools.
ELTons winners for 2016 | English Agenda ELTons 2016 winners Here are the winners of the ELTons for 2016. Details of the winners The British Council Lifetime Achievement Award Catherine Walter Excellence in Course Innovation Keynote Paul Dummett, Lewis Landsford & Helen StephensonNational Geographic Learning with Cengage Learning Innovation in Learner Resources Literacy for Active Citizenship Rose Ades, Tinhinene Cheloul, Ilham Sadi, Nazma Shaheen, Lee Yoon Teng & Valona Renne-ThomasLearning Unlimited LTD Innovation in Teacher Resources Digital Video – A Manual for Language Teachers Nik PeacheyPeachey Publications Digital Innovation Movies: Enjoy Language ‘Movie Team’ of Archimedes Inspiration, a.s.Archimedes Inspiration, a.s. Local Innovation Teaching English in Africa J Anderson, K Kamau, BM Shiholo, Dr L Kaviti & S MuchaiEast African Educational Publishers Ltd. The Macmillan Education Award for New Talent in Writing Academic English for the 21st Century Learner Aylin Graves ELTons 2016 nominees Excellence in course Innovation Digital innovation
Formative assessment Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides explicit feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes. Formative assessment is a method of continually evaluating students’ academic needs and development within the classroom and precedes local benchmark assessments and state-mandated summative assessments. Teachers who engage in formative assessments give continual, explicit feedback to students and assist them in answering the following questions: Where am I going? Where am I now? How can I close the gap between the two? In order to show students how to close the gap between where they are academically and where they want to be, teachers must help students evaluate their progress in the learning process and give them explicit, descriptive feedback specific to the learning task. History of formative assessments Learning Progressions Learning Goals and Criteria for Success
The concept of formative assessment. Boston, Carol Carol Boston ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation University of Maryland, College Park While many educators are highly focused on state tests, it is important to consider that over the course of a year, teachers can build in many opportunities to assess how students are learning and then use this information to make beneficial changes in instruction. This diagnostic use of assessment to provide feedback to teachers and students over the course of instruction is called formative assessment. It stands in contrast to summative assessment, which generally takes place after a period of instruction and requires making a judgment about the learning that has occurred (e.g., by grading or scoring a test or paper). This article addresses the benefits of formative assessment and provides examples and resources to support its implementation. Purpose and Benefits of Formative Assessment Examples of Formative Assessment Teachers might also assess students' understanding in the following ways:
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Formative Assessments "If you can both listen to children and accept their answers not as things to just be judged right or wrong but as pieces of information which may reveal what the child is thinking, you will have taken a giant step toward becoming a master teacher, rather than merely a disseminator of information." -Easley & Zwoyer, 1975 Proof Points Black and William (1998), two leading authorities on the importance of teachers maintaining a practice of on-going formative assessment, defined it as, “all those activities undertaken by teachers, and by the students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged.” Formative assessment encompasses a variety of strategies to determine student progress toward achieving specified learning goals. The strategies for investigating student learning identified below provide different types of data from and about students. How Do I Know What I Know? Is That a Fact?
10 Ways Teacher Planning Should Adjust To The Google Generation 10 Ways Teacher Planning Should Adjust To The Google Generation by Terry Heick For the Google Generation, information isn’t scarce, and knowing has the illusion of only being a search away. I’ve written before about how Google impacts the way students think. Curriculum maps are helpful little documents that standardize learning. The problem is, now more than ever, critical knowledge is changing. In the presence of Google, predictive search, digital communities, social media, Quora, adaptive apps, and other technology, information is less scarce than it has ever been in human history. There is a subreddit for transhumanism. That’s pretty incredible. There’s also one for education, science, the future, the past, self-directed learning, teaching, books, technology, and almost any other topic you can think of. The age of knowing is slowing giving way to an age of data navigation, and what students need help with should be adjusted accordingly–even if in ways other than the ideas below. 1. 2.
Summative assessment Summative assessments are cumulative evaluations used to measure student growth after instruction and are generally given at the end of a course in order to determine whether long term learning goals have been met. Summative assessments are not like formative assessments, which are designed to provide the immediate, explicit feedback useful for helping teacher and student during the learning process. High quality summative information can shape how teachers organize their curricula or what courses schools offer their students. Although there are many types of summative assessments, the most common examples include: State-mandated assessments District benchmark or interim assessments End-of-unit or -chapter tests End-of-term or -semester exams Scores that are used for accountability for schools (AYP) and students (report card grades) According to the North Carolina Public Schools, summative assessments are often created in the following formats:
'Training for Google Apps' Is One Of Chrome's Best Kept Secrets Do you ever start using a Google service and feel like you really don’t know how to use it properly? I feel that way quite often with Google Docs and Google Calendar. It’s not that I don’t know how to use them – I don’t know how to use each feature and option like a nimble productivity ninja! If you sometimes feel the same I definitely recommend you check out ‘Training for Google Apps’. This free, By Google extension delivers interactive training and walkthroughs for a slate of Google services, including Calendar, Classroom, Docs, Drive, Forms, Gmail, Google+, Groups, Hangouts, and more. “Set up the Training for Google Apps Chrome extension to access interactive, self-paced Google Apps lessons directly in your browser. The add-on delivers a real in-app experience, with all training taking place in the Google App you’re using. Here’s a quick lesson/walkthrough I chose while in Google Drive. Lessons are interactive Tooltips and call-outs guide you Not New, But Definitely Cool