Formative Assessment Formative assessment refers to a wide

Formative Assessment Formative assessment refers to a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course. Formative assessments help teachers identify concepts that students are struggling to understand skills they are having difficulty acquiring, or learning standards they have not yet achieved so that adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques, and academic The basic idea behind formative assessment is that evidence of student learning is used to adjust instruction to better meet students’ learning needs, teaching is adaptive to student needs Formative assessments should shape instructionsupport. https: //www. edglossary. org/formative-assessment/

On-the-fly Formative assessment is embedded in everyday instruction. It happens quite frequently, on a day-by-day and even minute-byminute basis as teachers are interacting and observing students at work. It is often “on-the-fly” It precisely focuses on what you are teaching and how students are responding. It can include observation, questioning, even paper/pencil activities but it must help you modify your instruction. And it must always provide feedback to the student that causes him to think—not to simply get the correct answer.

Validity & Reliability Araison (2001) describes four threats to validity of formative assessment. 1. Stereotyping, drawing conclusions based on personal impressions or previous biases. 2. Logical errors, evaluating students’ abilities based on irrelevant characteristics, such as how they are dressed or the achievements of their siblings. (These judgments are usually unconscious and teachers are unaware of making them. ) 3. Inadequate sampling, making judgments based on just one observation or piece of information. 4. Generalizing, is assuming that when students behave in a certain way in one situation, they will behave the same way in another. Data collected about student performance must also be reliable. Reliable information is consistent and typical. Any assessments of students’ thinking collected, for example, the day before a long holiday, are likely to be unreliable since student’s behavior is bound to be atypical situations. https: //www. intel. com/content/dam/www/program/education/us/en/documents/assessingprojects/overview-and-benefits/types-validity-and-reliability-of-formative-assessment. pdf

Strengths and Weaknesses: a. Formative assessment can be a time-consuming process that takes time and resources b. Teachers may lack training or professional development on how to use formative assessments successfully. c. Formative assessment may lack importance to the students. Students may not take assessment seriously. d. May likely need different kinds of formative assessment at different stages in students learning process and can be difficult to measure.

Strengths: a. Formative assessments are not graded, which takes the anxiety away from students. b. Enables teachers to adjust instruction quickly, while learning is in progress. c. Students can use the results to adjust and improve their own learning. d. Helps teacher identify the students' knowledge and skill. e. Teachers can create appropriate lessons, activities and groupings. f. Informs students of their progress to help them set goals. g. Helps teacher to determine concepts that need to be re-taught. h. Fosters student motivation, on-task behaviors, and self-awareness.

Digital Artifacts • Teachers should use artifacts that are reflective of their own work. a. Allow students variety in choosing their platform to complete their assignment (tools, apps, programs). b. Give students options as to the process of completing work. c. Expect variety in products to demonstrate competency. Examples: Coding in the classroom, online programs/apps/tools can be used to meet lesson objectives. This website is a presentation created by several teachers who collaborated and developed 56 different examples of formative assessment. https: //www. edutopia. org/groups/assessment/250941

Planned Formative assessment Planned formative assessment teachers decide beforehand how they will elicit students' thinking during instruction. For example, teachers plan the questions students will ask during the lesson in order to enable students to explore ideas, and these questions can elicit valuable assessment information. However, it's important that the teacher uses diverse learning opportunities with a variety of task to ensure that the student understand the material and to provide immediate, detailed feedback as the project progresses.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Formative Planned Assessment Planned formative assessment such as a test, quiz, paper, project, or homework, can be used to provide the evidence of learning. By giving student clear instructions and feedback allowing evidence to be used later to encouraging students to self-assess their own skills and memory recall. If formative assessment is done correctly, there are no disadvantages to the student. The same could be said about the benefits for teachers. Although, planning of the assessment can be time consuming for teacher. If done daily, teacher need to take time to analyze the results and provide detailed feedback to each student (which can take up to 35 mins plus per classes. ) So will take too much time to do daily formative assessment consistently, accurately and thoroughly which unfortunate because then done will, it is a powerful and impactful method for improving student learning.