Formative Assessments

In exploring and researching various formative assessments, I couldn’t help but think about how the different assessments present different sides of a picture. One type of assessment may only give one piece of student learning, while another may provide something completely different. Through collaborating with my peers and reviewing Josiah’s work, I realised that each assessment provides a part of the puzzle, and that analysing the total sum of data would be the key to truly understanding where the students are at in their learning. Utilising a variety of assessments will help to paint a picture of overall student comprehension, and additional assessments can be added or modified to better pinpoint the results. However, assessments are not just a snapshot of learning, they are also a tool for learning. Formative assessments such as quiz games that give instant feedback of right/wrong answers to students are a way to help them reinforce their understanding. Depending on the assessment, the resulting information about student understanding can be different, so it is important to select assessments that are grade appropriate and would provide accurate results of student learning.

Fortunately, many online formative assessments capture quantitative data instantly, which is a quick and accurate way to gather information. These types of assessments allow for immediate feedback that can be shared with students as well as data that is easy to record and keep for tracking progress. More open-ended assessments can provide a deeper understanding of the student, and thus will be a little more difficult to gather data on. For instance, students writing self-reflections or responding to a verbal prompt can also be used as ways to assess student comprehension of content, but would rely more on the teacher’s ability to assess and record these results. It’s important to combine both types of assessments to gain a better understanding of overall student ability.

Re-using formative assessments (particularly the think, pair, share) as a follow-up activity can be a powerful method for measuring progress. When it comes to using an assessment that doesn’t output a numerical grade, it’s more challenging to measure students. However, by coming back to the same assessment, seeing the growth of the students can be more clear, and using an open-ended assessment can give completely different results each time because of the inherent creativity.

Collecting and analysing data is equally important in assessing students overall as each formative assessment is important in the moment. By recognising trends, I can adjust whether assessments need to be modified to be more difficult or easy depending on how the students are performing, as well as adjust planning for instruction. Formative assessments are a powerful and vital tool for the classroom.

Here are some examples of formative assessments that could be used in an ELL class: