The Journey – Improving Writing Through Formative Assessment

Presented By:

Sarah McManus, Section Chief, Testing Policy & Operations

Phyllis Blue, Middle Grades English/Language Arts Consultant

Accountability ConferenceFebruary 11, 2008

Where do we want to go?

Where are we now?

How do we close the gap?

In North Carolina…..

Concern from the classroom?

Too much time spent on measuring the learning rather than promoting and helping learning to occur

Most summative assessments look like “mini state tests”

Forced to “teach to the test”Less motivated students

Focus on teaching and learning.

• Clear Purpose

• Clear Targets

• Sound Design

• Effective Communication

• Student Involvement

There is an emphasis on: • “The test”• State test results• Practice items• Alignment• Remediation

What is getting the most attention and what is getting left behind?

There is little emphasis on:• Student learning• Developing self-directed learners• Increasing student motivation• Delivering quality professional development for teachers

•content delivery•classroom assessment

Classroom Assessment(Formative and Summative)

Interim/Benchmark Assessments (Summative)

Statewide Assessments (Summative)

Aligned to State Standards

Support teachers in their efforts to use:• Increased commitment to a high-quality formative assessment

as a process.• Increase the use of descriptive feedback and reduce

evaluative feedback.• Increase student involvement in classroom assessment

(formative and summative).

Focus on the Importance of Classroom Assessment

• Guides students’ judgment of what is important to learn• Affects their motivation and self perceptions of competence• Structures their approaches to and timing of personal study…• Consolidates learning• Affects the development of enduring learning strategies and

skills

“It appears to be the most potent force influencing education.”

Crooks (1988)

Teachers use a variety of methods to assess what each student has

learned.

• Teachers use multiple indicators, including formative and summative assessment to evaluate student progress and growth.

• Teachers provide opportunities, methods, feedback, and tools for students to assess themselves and each other.

• Teachers use 21st Century assessment systems to inform instruction and demonstrate evidence of students’ 21st Century knowledge, skills, performance, and dispositions.

Standard IV: Teachers Facilitate Learning For Their Students

BALANCED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

A process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides immediate feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to help students improve their achievement of intended instructional outcomes.

A tool used after instruction to measure student achievement which provides evidence of student competence or program effectiveness.

FORMATIVE SUMMATIVE

•Occurs During Instruction•Not Graded•Process•Descriptive Feedback•Continuous•Students & parents are partners in the process•Assessment for learning

•Occurs at the end•Graded•Product•Evaluative Feedback•Periodic•Assessment of learning

COMPARISON OF ASSESSMENTS

Possible Assessment Methods

Formative Assessment includes

• Questions• Classroom Discussions• Learning Activities• Feedback• Conferences• Interviews• Student Self-Assessment

Summative Assessment

• Selected Response

– Multiple Choice– True/False– Matching– Fill-in

• Extended Written Response

• Performance Assessment

•Both formative and summative assessment are valuable and important

•Without both the classroom assessment system is not balanced

Research

Research shows that if students are formatively assessed, learning will improve. When learning is improved, students are able to demonstrate that learning in a variety of ways including scoring well on standardized assessments like the EOG and EOC.

Black and Wiliam (1998)

ProductsProducts

SkillsSkills

ReasoningReasoning

KnowledgeKnowledge

©Copyright Educational Testing Service/Assessment Training Institute

Feedback

Frequently feedback is used to push students to “do more” or to “do better,” without being specific enough to help students know what to do. This type of

feedback is generally ineffective. (Hattie & Timperley, 2005)

Effective feedback points out successes and gives specific information about how to improve the performance or product.

(Black & Wiliam, 1998; Black, et al, 2002; Bloom, 1989; Brown, 1994)

When teachers substituted comments for grades, students engaged more productively in improving their work. (Black, et al, 2002)

Intensive correction, where the teacher marks every error in every paper a student writes, is completely useless. Marking all errors is no more

advantageous in terms of student growth than marking none of them. (Hillocks, 1986)

Key Goals for Comment-Only Marking

Goal #1

Only feedback leads to higher learning gains

than grades alone or grades with comments

Goal #2

Focusing feedback (oral and written) on

success and improvement needs against

the learning target of the task leads to

students embedding their improvements

and applying them in subsequent work

Goal #3

Students need time to make improvements

on their work

Goal #4

Improvements should focus on either

1) Short-term improvement on the work marked, or

2) Longer-term targets

Goal #5

Teachers should model feedback processes

aiming for maximum student control over

marking (self-monitoring).

Descriptive FeedbackActivity

Next steps…

• Join the Online Professional Development Community• Increased commitment to a high-quality formative

assessment as a process• Increase the use of descriptive feedback, reduce

evaluative feedback• Increase student involvement in the assessment process

Thank you!!!!

Q & A

Contact Information

Sarah McManus

Section Chief, Testing Policy and Operations

NC Department of Public Instruction

Accountability Services Division

smcmanus@dpi.state.nc.us

Phyllis Blue

Middle Grades English/Language Arts Consultant

NC Department of Public Instruction

pblue@dpi.state.nc.us