By Bruce Vaughn
With all the interpretations of formative assessment out there it can get confusing. While there is no one correct definition of what formative assessment is I have found that after reviewing an exhaustive list of formative assessment resources an effective way to define quality formative assessment practice can be summed up in four terms:
Intangible
Formative Assessment is a Process
The understanding that teaching, assessment, and reflection are not a product but a process is essential to implementing assessment. We must understand that assessment is all around us, happening in real time. It is the real-time nature of assessment that allows us to view it as a process, instead of product. The intangible aspect is means assessment is not outcomes-based, meaning only searching for right answers.
Outcomes-based evidence collection is too shallow of a purpose for assessment. Assessment must be seen as reflective interaction with someone's expectation. (Gobble, Onuscheck, Reibel, Twadell 2016) and attempt to expose thinking patterns, logic and rationalization, and emerging ideas. This means that any evidence can be used to determine whether someone's is at your expectation. Thus assessment is not a thing you give students it is the process you enter into with them to determine if they are meeting the desired state of competency.
Instantaneous
Formative Assessment results, and feedback, are reviewed and reapplied in a timely manner
The understanding that teaching and learning are instantaneous begs the question, “why do we take so long to teach something to a student?” Teachers view learning as an incremental and scaffolded accumulation of knowledge or skill and pay little attention to the notion that learning is not of linear time and space, but rather a function of non – linear proficiency development. In order to deepen their understanding of instantaneous teacher must pay attention to reaction time to feedback.
Quality assessment is based primarily on reaction time to feedback. If a student takes an assessment and does nothing with the results or feedback produced from the assessment in a proper amount of time then may never take hold. Learning is only as effective as:
1. The level of which a student accepts (trusts) the feedback from a teacher
2. The time it takes for a student to apply teacher feedback
If a student doesn't trust or accept the feedback from a teacher then learning stops right there. Why would I listen to you? is the question that a student may ask himself or herself if they simply don't value the feedback from the teacher.
However if a student does accept the feedback but a teacher doesn't ask the student to do anything with it (reapply it) in the appropriate amount of time then learning will not take hold either. The feedback will simply fade into the background and become organized the "Not sure why we did this?" file.
It is essential that teachers pay attention to the instantaneous nature of effective assessment. By placing feedback accountability to react in a timely manner to my critique of their current state of proficiency on the student we increase reflection as a learning tool and students begin to rely on and trust their own thinking during the lesson.
Inseparable
Formative Assessment is Instruction.
From the work with proficiency based assessment I can say confidently that curriculum, assessment, instruction, and feedback all occupy the same learning space. They are not separate entities. They are so closely intertwined that they appear to me as the same element. Think about it this way, When I have an expectation of you (curriculum) I outline that expectation to you, then you interact with said expectation (assessment) through demonstration, dialogue or reflection. And as you interact with the expectation I clarify and contextualize any evidence that is being produced by your interaction with the expectation (instruction) in order to give you proper perspective of self. Lastly you adjust your thinking or performance as you react to my now more clarified expectation (feedback).
It is important to remember that curriculum, assessment, instruction, and reflection are not separate. Together they create the 'soup' that allows teachers to truly realize assessment as a process.
Individualized
Formative Assessment Builds Efficacy
When students begin to show autonomy in learning lessons become far less 'cookie cutter' and become more dynamic ultimately making learning more individualized for the student. Not because the teacher individualized it but because the student starts to see the knowledge through their own learning lens (emerging thinking about their own proficiency levels). When students are asked to constantly create and review their own proficiency levels they build the skill of efficacy.
Efficacy is defined in the dictionary as "one's ability to independently achieve or satisfy a desired state or expectation". As a colleague of mine put it "Assessments are events that attempt to lessen the student's reliance on me (the teacher)." This all important skill is at the heart of formative assessment. As we build and implement formative assessment we must consider that the goal of these types of assessments are to hold students accountable to be more trusting and reliant on their own thinking.
The structure of the four Is were influenced and adapted from a presentation in 2013 entitled "Perspectives on Business innovation" by a professor at Northwestern University named Mohan Sawhney.
With all the interpretations of formative assessment out there it can get confusing. While there is no one correct definition of what formative assessment is I have found that after reviewing an exhaustive list of formative assessment resources an effective way to define quality formative assessment practice can be summed up in four terms:
- Intangible – A process, not a product
- Instantaneous – quick (low) reaction time to assessment feedback by the student
- Inseparable – Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment are all same thing, sewn together by a learning target
- Individualized – Student uses own thinking as a learning tool
Intangible
Formative Assessment is a Process
The understanding that teaching, assessment, and reflection are not a product but a process is essential to implementing assessment. We must understand that assessment is all around us, happening in real time. It is the real-time nature of assessment that allows us to view it as a process, instead of product. The intangible aspect is means assessment is not outcomes-based, meaning only searching for right answers.
Outcomes-based evidence collection is too shallow of a purpose for assessment. Assessment must be seen as reflective interaction with someone's expectation. (Gobble, Onuscheck, Reibel, Twadell 2016) and attempt to expose thinking patterns, logic and rationalization, and emerging ideas. This means that any evidence can be used to determine whether someone's is at your expectation. Thus assessment is not a thing you give students it is the process you enter into with them to determine if they are meeting the desired state of competency.
Instantaneous
Formative Assessment results, and feedback, are reviewed and reapplied in a timely manner
The understanding that teaching and learning are instantaneous begs the question, “why do we take so long to teach something to a student?” Teachers view learning as an incremental and scaffolded accumulation of knowledge or skill and pay little attention to the notion that learning is not of linear time and space, but rather a function of non – linear proficiency development. In order to deepen their understanding of instantaneous teacher must pay attention to reaction time to feedback.
Quality assessment is based primarily on reaction time to feedback. If a student takes an assessment and does nothing with the results or feedback produced from the assessment in a proper amount of time then may never take hold. Learning is only as effective as:
1. The level of which a student accepts (trusts) the feedback from a teacher
2. The time it takes for a student to apply teacher feedback
If a student doesn't trust or accept the feedback from a teacher then learning stops right there. Why would I listen to you? is the question that a student may ask himself or herself if they simply don't value the feedback from the teacher.
However if a student does accept the feedback but a teacher doesn't ask the student to do anything with it (reapply it) in the appropriate amount of time then learning will not take hold either. The feedback will simply fade into the background and become organized the "Not sure why we did this?" file.
It is essential that teachers pay attention to the instantaneous nature of effective assessment. By placing feedback accountability to react in a timely manner to my critique of their current state of proficiency on the student we increase reflection as a learning tool and students begin to rely on and trust their own thinking during the lesson.
Inseparable
Formative Assessment is Instruction.
From the work with proficiency based assessment I can say confidently that curriculum, assessment, instruction, and feedback all occupy the same learning space. They are not separate entities. They are so closely intertwined that they appear to me as the same element. Think about it this way, When I have an expectation of you (curriculum) I outline that expectation to you, then you interact with said expectation (assessment) through demonstration, dialogue or reflection. And as you interact with the expectation I clarify and contextualize any evidence that is being produced by your interaction with the expectation (instruction) in order to give you proper perspective of self. Lastly you adjust your thinking or performance as you react to my now more clarified expectation (feedback).
It is important to remember that curriculum, assessment, instruction, and reflection are not separate. Together they create the 'soup' that allows teachers to truly realize assessment as a process.
Individualized
Formative Assessment Builds Efficacy
When students begin to show autonomy in learning lessons become far less 'cookie cutter' and become more dynamic ultimately making learning more individualized for the student. Not because the teacher individualized it but because the student starts to see the knowledge through their own learning lens (emerging thinking about their own proficiency levels). When students are asked to constantly create and review their own proficiency levels they build the skill of efficacy.
Efficacy is defined in the dictionary as "one's ability to independently achieve or satisfy a desired state or expectation". As a colleague of mine put it "Assessments are events that attempt to lessen the student's reliance on me (the teacher)." This all important skill is at the heart of formative assessment. As we build and implement formative assessment we must consider that the goal of these types of assessments are to hold students accountable to be more trusting and reliant on their own thinking.
The structure of the four Is were influenced and adapted from a presentation in 2013 entitled "Perspectives on Business innovation" by a professor at Northwestern University named Mohan Sawhney.
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