My research on Formative Assessment

From: "Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom" by Connie M. Moss & Susan M. Brookhart, 2009.

Six elements of the formative assessment process:

• Shared learning targets and criteria for success 
• Feedback that feeds forward (next steps)
• Student goal setting
• Student self-assessment
• Strategic teacher questioning
• Student engagement in asking effective questions. 

For my development, I will be focusing on the highlighted areas to start off with. I am going to start using formative assessment in my writing firstly, because writing is our team focus and I have had some PD in writing conferencing which is a form of formative assessment. 

Learning Targets and Criteria for Success

Example: Students are to write a book report. The learning intention is not "to write a book report", it is "read and comprehend the plot and be able to make a personal connection with the story". 

She will instruct them to: "Write two paragraphs- the first should summarise the story so that someone who has not read the story will know what happens. The second is to tell the reader what your favourite part of the story is and why." 

This teacher has given clear directions. She has also started to share the learning intention. 

This, however, is only the first step. While the students understand what they are supposed to do, they will have different ideas of what the paragraphs will look like. 

Showing students good quality examples, at various levels, and then comparing them, will help them to understand what is expected and how they can achieve the learning intention.Students should also be given a rubric with specific descriptions so that their understanding is clear. 

Feedback that feeds forward

Effective Feedback...

• Observes where the work did a good job of meeting the criteria and where it did not. 
• Suggests ways the student could go about understanding the reasons for these observations, building on strengths and improving on weaknesses. 
• Shows students how to look at their work using criteria from the assignment, and thus, by modelling, helps teach them self assessment skills. 

How well did the feedback...

• Compare the student's work with the learning target?
• Describe what the student did well?
• Suggest a specific strategy for next steps?
• Arrive as soon as possible after performance?
• Match the student's developmental level?

Student Self- Assessment

The biggest part of self-assessment is involving the students when developing the success criteria. Question them or prompt them to clarify their thinking "why?" "explain that" "tell me more about..."