Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Assessment is an important aspect of any education program. Most individuals believe however that evaluations ought to be after the education process but the data shows that formative assessments to be sprinkled through the academic year. Although the meaning is nebulous, the formative assessment is understood as evaluation that happens through the term continuously.

Formative assessment can be understood as a method of adjusting teaching based on the information obtained through as assessment process. We can also see them as assessment for learning (Looney, 2011). As a teacher, I need to figure out where to move next in my curriculum and formative assessment tells me which curve to take. As an educator, I use them very often during or after teaching a concept (Erie, 2017). 

The information helps me to redefine the pathways to teaching. 

When is a formative assessment for teachers alone and when is it useful for both? 

That is what I will explore in this paper.

Formative Assessments for Teachers

For me, a formative assessment helps me to define my teaching strategies from day-to-day classroom experience.

• For example, after teaching decimals addition, I may take a short 4 min peer assessment to decide if I want to move to the next concept or revise the one taught again. 
• In this case, it is formative assessment for me, as a teacher, for it helps me to discover the learning levels of the students in the concept that I have taught. In the example given before of decimal teaching, I may reteach the concept or have a think-pair-share session or move to the next session, depending on the outcome I receive of the formative assessment. 
• Here the formative assessment is for me as a teacher for I am the only one using it. The kids are benefiting as an outcome of my usage.

Formative Assessment tasks help bring up the individuality of the students and hence provide individual feedback to the teachers. This is timely as it allows to modify the curriculum journey. However, it should be used wisely and teachers need to know when and how to conduct one. They also need to be wise about how to use the data received. They need to give clear feedback to the kids including what needs to be improved.

Formative Assessment for the Students

A part of responsibility is also to activate the learners to take ownership of their learning (NWEA, n.d.). I can use formative assessment for the same and then it would be an assessment for the students. This can be done using self-assessment and peer-assessment for these are enablers towards self-awareness in the students that is a life skill (Heick, 2017). The objective of formative assessment for students hence is to use teaching strategies that are focused on making students aware of where they are on the learning curve. This is to ensure that the learners become more accountable of their learning and hence collaborate with the teacher as against depend on them.

There are several methods of formative assessments that we can use to help the students become aware of where they are on the learning curve. 

• These are KWL charts (What I Know, What I Want to Know, What I've Learned) and self/peer assessment as explained above. 
• "Formative assessment involves student questioning and the use of data which enables students to collaborate in the instructional process by helping them to discover how they learn best" (Measuring Up Social Team, 2017). 
• Self-awareness leads to self-directedness and finally self-empowerment in the students. 
• Students become more reflective about what they know, need to know and maybe, how do they get to it!

Conclusion

Formative Assessment needs to be a part of the educational paradigm as an essential strategy. The focus is for the teacher to obtain data about the students and for the students to be self-aware about their learning levels. This would enable it to become an effective tool both for the teachers as well as for the students.

 Let’s just use it for “If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads (France, n.d.)”.

References

• Erie, PA., Public Schools. (2017). Diagnostic assessment. ERIESD. https://www.eriesd.org/cms/lib/PA01001942/Centricity/Domain/1917/Types%20of%20Assessments%20information%20sheets.pdf
• France, A. (n.d.). Anatole France (author of the gods will Have blood). https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/48535.Anatole_France
• Heick, T. (2017, December 10). The necessity of self-criticism in education.
• https://www.teachthought.com/technology/desperate-need-self-criticismeducation/
• Looney, J. (2011). Integrating formative and summative assessments: Progress towards a seamless system. OECD Education Working Papers No. 58. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED529586.pdf
• Measuring Up Social Team. (2017, December 6). Formative assessment is the key to unlocking student engagement. Measuring Up. https://measuringupmeblog.com/2017/12/formative-assessment-is-the-key-to-unlocking-student-engagement/
• NWEA. (n.d.). 4 formative assessment practices that make a difference in classrooms. NWEA.org. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED567811.pdf