What is Formative Assessment?

1. What is Formative Assessment?

2. Assessing School “Readiness” • Children are ready to learn at birth. • However, by age 5, they have learned different things. • Children who start kindergarten behind are often still behind in Grade 3. • Children who are behind in Grade 3 are at increased risk of dropping out of high school. • This is why policymakers care about where children are at entry to kindergarten.

3. Different Types of Assessment Summative Assessment Developmental Screener Formative Assessment

4. Formative Assessment Formative Assessment A process used by teachers and students duringinstructionthat provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to help students improve their achievement of intended instructional outcomes. American Educational Research Association, The American Psychological Association (APA), and The National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), 2014 & Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), 2006

5. Multiple Purposes of Assessment Screen for learning or developmental problems Identify a disability Inform instruction Improve instructional programs Track student progress Target school or district resources Inform professional development Inform policy Etc.

6. Why Should Teachers Want to Assess? • Research shows that when... ...Children achieve at higher levels. • Good assessment is developmentally appropriate practice and good instructional practice. • Teachers regularly assess what children know and can do • Use that information to guide instruction • AND

7. Let’s Pretend…

8. Let’s Pretend…

9. Common Refrain “I don’t have time for assessment. I need more time for instruction.”

10. K-3 Consortium’s Vision for the K-3 Formative Assessment • NC Vision Video: https://vimeo.com/141847217

11. What the K‒3 Formative Assessment is NOT

12. What the K‒3 Formative Assessment is NOT • K‒3 Assessment is NOT: • A developmental screener • A structured direct child assessment • A high-stakes test • Linked to teacher evaluations

13. K-3 Formative Assessment Vision: 4 Key Points • Key Point #1: K-3 Formative Assessment Process focuses on the whole child

14. K-3 Formative Assessment Vision: 4 Key Points • Key Point #2: Occurs during instruction rather than as an isolated event apart from instruction. • Teachers can learn about students throughout the day in a variety of settings: • Whole group • Small group • Centers/stations • Individual

15. K-3 Formative Assessment Vision: 4 Key Points • Key Point #3: A teacher can collect evidence about students using a variety of strategies: • Talk with families • Take photos • Record student conversations • Write anecdotal notes • Collect work samples • Incorporate evidence from other school educators (e.g., PE, OT, Speech, ELL)

16. K-3 Formative Assessment Vision: 4 Key Points • Key Point #4: What is learned is used to guide instruction: • Identifies what students know and are able to do and where to head next • Helps to plan and adjust instruction in an ongoing manner • Helps to meet the needs of all students

17. Components of the assessment

18. Features of the K‒3 Formative Assessment Based on construct progressions • Learning in any area occurs in sequences which can be described • New learning must build on what the child already knows • Teachers identify where a child’s skill level is on the progression • Helps teacher determine the next step for the child Uses assessment means to gather evidence

19. Domains and Constructs in theK‒3 Formative Assessment

20. Components of the Assessment

21. Components of the Assessment Sequences of learning

22. Defining Construct Progressions Define the expectations for knowledge and skills students should have at the end of a grade level. Standards Do not represent the intermediate pathways (building blocks) between the end of one grade and the end of the next Curriculum Scope and Sequence Construct Progressions

23. Defining Construct Progressions Standards Scope: concepts, ideas, topics to be covered in a curriculum within a given period Curriculum Scope and Sequence Sequence: the order in which content is presented Construct Progressions

24. Defining Construct Progressions Standards Lay out increasingly more sophisticated understandings of core concepts, principles or skill development in a domain Curriculum Scope and Sequence Describe development over an extended period of time Provide a picture of what it means to “improve” in an area of learning Construct Progressions

25. Construct Progression: Structure

26. What is a Construct Progression? • Multi-step descriptions of how students’learning develops in the construct • Steps range from less to increasingly more sophisticated forms of learning • Based on research and professionalwisdom There are some differences across the progressions in terms of scope, breadth, and level of granularity.

27. Construct Progression Example: Book Orientation

28. Book Orientation Construct Progression: Skills A ‒ C

29. Book Orientation Construct Progression: Skill D

30. Components of the Assessment Ways of gathering evidence to identify a child’s skill level

31. What is an Assessment Mean? • How teachers gather the evidence to decide which step on the progression best describes the child’s current skill level • Teachers will use evidence from multiple assessment means to determine where a child is on a construct progression. • Teachers also will document the evidence as part of the assessment.

32. 3 Types of Assessment Means Observations Situations Tasks

33. Assessment Means

34. Assessment Means Form: Book Orientation

35. Assessment Means Form: Book Orientation

36. Let’s Review • Purposes of Assessment • Features of Formative Assessment • Vision for this Assessment • Components of the K-3 Assessment • Construct Progression • Assessment Means