Review: Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom

The following resource is available for Sullivan Heights teachers in our Learning Commons:
 

"Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom" by C. Moss and S. Brookhart  is a book which deals with the formative assessment process in a unique way. The central theme throughout the book is using "feedback that feeds forward", moving the students forward  in their learning.  Teachers are supposed to help students progress, or gain from the feedback. The authors do a good job of analyzing certain practices, such as grading, goal-setting, and questioning, and view them through the formative assessment lens.

There are a lot of practical ideas in the book, but the overall take-away idea is to remember how important it is that teachers teach students how to learn and provide them with resources to support this learning. This represents a shift from a focus on what to learn. While both are important, great learning requires a feedback cycle that includes the following elements:

• specific
• positive
• focused on work
• descriptive
• compared to the target (objective, goal)

One of the more interesting discussions in the book dealt with goal-setting.  Moss and Brookhart believe that goal-setting is not an event, but a process that needs to be practiced in a minute-by-minute manner as part of learning.


In their own words, the bottom line is that either "students are the captain of their own ship of learning or there is no ship".  This book helps teachers to equip students with ways to ask themselves questions, set goals, and evaluate their progress toward those goals. And the key to all of this is evidence. There has to be evidence of learning for everyone's sake, the students need to see growth, the parents do as well, and we need to see evidence of learning.

Therefore, the whole process begins with clearly defining the learning target. What are target groups?

Formative Assessment provides three basics for teachers and students:

1. Focus on learning goals.
2. Taking stock of where current work is in relation to the goal.
3. Taking action to move closer to the goal.

It’s pretty simple and when you look at it this way. You may be thinking, “What is new here?” Over the past several years, it has been my experience that teachers have been using data to drive classroom instruction, if students don't do well on a test, that means that we need to reteach it in a different manner so that they learn the process. An excellent practice!

Formative assessment just takes that a step further to ensure that not only are the instructors aware of student progress and growth, but the students are made aware of this growth, too. That is what makes this practice a bit unique. According to the text, “The research is clear: formative assessment works. It works because it has a direct effect on the two most important players in the teaching-learning process: the teacher and the student.”

Another idea in this text was taking students from being “goal-setters” to “goal-getters”.  The students should be able to:

• share with the teacher what makes the goal realistic yet challenging;
• identify the benefits of reaching the shared goal;
• and understand the consequences if the goal is not attained.

Isn't this what assessment should be?  Students assessing themselves?  In this book, the author states that every that  student should be trained to do this in all subject areas, all the time. Where is the student in math? Where does she need to go? How will she get there? How will she know she has reached her goal? It’s not a one-time goal-setting deal, this idea of formative assessment!

This leads to the last point: questioning!  Students should be able to answer the following questions when asked: Where am I going? Where am I now? What strategy or strategies can help me get to where I need to go? The continuous cycle of setting a learning target and having strategies to reach the target are beneficial to all stakeholders…student, teacher, and parent.

(Written by Nicole Painchaud)