Transcript
Successul middle schools engage students in allaspects o their learning. Tere are many strategies oraccomplishing this. One such strategy is student-ledconerences. As a classroom teacher or administrator,how do you ensure that the inormation shared in astudent-led conerence provides a balanced picture o thestudent’s strengths and weaknesses? Te answer to thisis to balance both summative and ormative classroomassessment practices and inormation gathering aboutstudent learning.Assessment is a huge topic that encompasses everythingrom statewide accountability tests to district benchmark or interim tests to everyday classroom tests. In orderto grapple with what seems to be an overuse o testing,educators should rame their views o testing asassessment and that assessment is inormation. Te moreinormation we have about students, the clearer thepicture we have about achievement or where gaps may occur. Defning Formative and Summative Assessments Te terms “ormative” and “summative” do not have tobe dicult, yet the denitions have become conusingin the past ew years. Tis is especially true or ormativeassessment. In a balanced assessment system, bothsummative and ormative assessments are an integralpart o inormation gathering. Depend too much on oneor the other and the reality o student achievement in your classroom becomes unclear. Summative Assessments are given periodically todetermine at a particular point in time what studentsknow and do not know. Many associate summativeassessments only with standardized tests such asstate assessments, but they are also used at and are animportant part o district and classroom programs.Summative assessment at the district and classroom levelis an accountability measure that is generally used as parto the grading process. Te list is long, but here are someexamples o summative assessments:State assessments ã District benchmark or interim assessments ã End-o-unit or chapter tests ã End-o-term or semester exams ã Scores that are used or accountability o schools ã (AYP) and students (report card grades). Te key is to think o summative assessment as a meansto gauge, at a particular point in time, student learningrelative to content standards. Although the inormationgleaned rom this type o assessment is important, it canonly help in evaluating certain aspects o the learningprocess. Because they are spread out and occur aterinstruction every ew weeks, months, or once a year,summative assessments are tools to help evaluate theeectiveness o programs, school improvement goals,alignment o curriculum, or student placement inspecic programs. Summative assessments happen tooar down the learning path to provide inormation at theclassroom level and to make instructional adjustmentsand interventions during the learning process. It takesormative assessment to accomplish this. Formative Assessment is part o the instructionalprocess. When incorporated into classroom practice,it provides the inormation needed to adjust teachingand learning while they are happening. In this sense,ormative assessment inorms both teachers andstudents about student understanding at a point whentimely adjustments can be made. Tese adjustmentshelp to ensure students achieve targeted standards-based learning goals within a set time rame. Althoughormative assessment strategies appear in a variety o ormats, there are some distinct ways to distinguish themrom summative assessments.One distinction is to think o ormative assessmentas “practice.” We do not hold students accountablein “grade book ashion” or skills and concepts they Formative and Summative Assessmentsin the Classroom Catherine Garrison and Michael Ehringhaus, Ph. D. Formative and Summative Assessments in the Classroom 1 have just been introduced to or are learning. We mustallow or practice. Formative assessment helps teachersdetermine next steps during the learning process as theinstruction approaches the summative assessment o student learning. A good analogy or this is the roadtest that is required to receive a driver’s license. Whati, beore getting your driver’s license, you received agrade every time you sat behind the wheel to practicedriving? What i your nal grade or the driving test was the average o all o the grades you received whilepracticing? Because o the initial low grades you receivedduring the process o learning to drive, your nal grade would not accurately refect your ability to drive a car.In the beginning o learning to drive, how condent ormotivated to learn would you eel? Would any o thegrades you received provide you with guidance on what you needed to do next to improve your driving skills? Your nal driving test, or summative assessment, wouldbe the accountability measure that establishes whetheror not you have the driving skills necessary or a driver’slicense—not a refection o all the driving practice thatleads to it. Te same holds true or classroom instruction,learning, and assessment.Another distinction that underpins ormative assessmentis student involvement. I students are not involvedin the assessment process, ormative assessment isnot practiced or implemented to its ull eectiveness.Students need to be involved both as assessors o their own learning and as resources to other students. Tere are numerous strategies teachers can implementto engage students. In act, research shows that theinvolvement in and ownership o their work increasesstudents’ motivation to learn. Tis does not mean theabsence o teacher involvement. o the contrary, teachersare critical in identiying learning goals, setting clearcriteria or success, and designing assessment tasks thatprovide evidence o student learning.One o the key components o engaging students inthe assessment o their own learning is providing them with descriptive eedback as they learn. In act, researchshows descriptive eedback to be the most signicantinstructional strategy to move students orward in theirlearning. Descriptive eedback provides students withan understanding o what they are doing well, links toclassroom learning, and gives specic input on how toreach the next step in the learning progression. In other words, descriptive eedback is not a grade, a sticker, or“good job!” A signicant body o research indicates thatsuch limited eedback does not lead to improvedstudent learning. Tere are many classroom instructional strategies thatare part o the repertoire o good teaching. Whenteachers use sound instructional practice or the purposeo gathering inormation on student learning, they areapplying this inormation in a ormative way. In thissense, ormative assessment is pedagogy and clearly cannot be separated rom instruction. It is what goodteachers do. Te distinction lies in what teachers actually do with the inormation they gather. How is it beingused to inorm instruction? How is it being shared withand engaging students? It’s not teachers just collectinginormation/data on student learning; it’s what they do with the inormation they collect.Some o the instructional strategies that can be usedormatively include the ollowing: Criteria and goal setting with students engages themin instruction and the learning process by creating clearexpectations. In order to be successul, students needto understand and know the learning target/goal andthe criteria or reaching it. Establishing and deningquality work together, asking students to participate inestablishing norm behaviors or classroom culture, anddetermining what should be included in criteria orsuccess are all examples o this strategy. Using student work, classroom tests, or exemplars o what is expectedhelps students understand where they are, where they need to be, and an eective process or getting there. Observations go beyond walking around the roomto see i students are on task or need clarication.Observations assist teachers in gathering evidence o student learning to inorm instructional planning. Tisevidence can be recorded and used as eedback orstudents about their learning or as anecdotal data shared with them during conerences. Questioning strategies should be embedded in lesson/unit planning. Asking better questions allows anopportunity or deeper thinking and provides teachers with signicant insight into the degree and depth o understanding. Questions o this nature engage studentsin classroom dialogue that both uncovers and expandslearning. An “exit slip” at the end o a class period todetermine students’ understanding o the day’s lessonor quick checks during instruction such as “thumbs up/down” or “red/green” (stop/go) cards are also examples o Formative and Summative Assessments in the Classroom 2 questioning strategies that elicit immediate inormationabout student learning. Helping students ask betterquestions is another aspect o this ormative assessmentstrategy. Sel and peer assessment helps to create a learningcommunity within a classroom. Students who can refect while engaged in metacognitive thinking are involvedin their learning. When students have been involved incriteria and goal setting, sel-evaluation is a logical stepin the learning process. With peer evaluation, students seeeach other as resources or understanding and checkingor quality work against previously established criteria. Student record keeping helps students betterunderstand their own learning as evidenced by theirclassroom work. Tis process o students keepingongoing records o their work not only engages students,it also helps them, beyond a “grade,” to see where they started and the progress they are making toward thelearning goal.All o these strategies are integral to the ormativeassessment process, and they have been suggested by models o eective middle school instruction. Balancing Assessment As teachers gather inormation/data about studentlearning, several categories may be included. Inorder to better understand student learning, teachersneed to consider inormation about the products(paper or otherwise) students create and tests they take, observational notes, and refections on thecommunication that occurs between teacher and studentor among students. When a comprehensive assessmentprogram at the classroom level balances ormative andsummative student learning/achievement inormation,a clear picture emerges o where a student is relative tolearning targets and standards. Students should be ableto articulate this shared inormationabout their own learning. When this happens, student-led conerences, a ormative assessment strategy, are valid. Te more we know about individual students asthey engage in the learning process, the better we canadjust instruction to ensure that all students continue toachieve by moving orward in their learning. Reerences Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D.(2003) Assessment for Learning: Putting it into practice. Berkshire, England: Open University Press.Butler, D.L. & Winnie, P.H. (1995) Feedback andsel-regulated learning: a theoretical synthesis. Reviewof Educational Research, 65 (3), 245-281.Sadler, D.R. (1998) Formative assessment: revisitingthe territory. Assessment in Education, 5 (1), 77-84. Catherine Garrison is a proessional development specialist at Measured Progress, Dover, New Hampshire.
[email protected] Michael Ehringhaus, Ph.D., is director o proessional development services at Measured Progress, Dover, New Hampshire.
[email protected] Also available: Effective Classroom Assessment: Linking Assessment with Instruction by Catherine Garrison, Dennis Chandler, and Michael Ehringhaus isavailable online at www.nmsa.org and www.measuredprogress.org. Formative and Summative Assessments in the Classroom 3 National Middle School Association4151 Executive Parkway, Suite 300Westerville, Ohio 43081www.nmsa.org 614-895-4730Measured Progress100 Education Way, P.O. Box 1217Dover, NH 03820www.measuredprogress.org 603-749-9102 About National Middle School Association National Middle School Association (NMSA) is a voice or those committedto the educational and developmental needs o young adolescents. Withnearly 30,000 members representing principals, teachers, central ofcepersonnel, proessors, college students, parents, community leaders, andeducational consultants worldwide, NMSA welcomes and provides supportto anyone interested in the health and education o young adolescents. About Measured Progress The mission o Measured Progress is to improve teaching and learning byproviding customized assessment products and educational services. In manyways, Measured Progress defnes itsel through the people they serve: states,districts, schools, educators, and students. With a tradition o tailoring workto their needs, they have provided a wide range o customized, innovativeproducts and services.
