Maximizing the Power of Formative Assessments
Please respond with feedback, thoughts, and input to this weeks Professional Development Article on Formative Assessments. Attached is another copy of the article.
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| maximizing the power of formative assessments.pdf | 187.4 KB |
You are right on the
You are right on the money. If we can really perfect this our scores will increase. Research supports that. Nice post Dennis.
You hit the target! A
You hit the target! A pretest of skills provides valuable information for planning instruction. Dominant areas of weaknesses can be emphasized more by building on identified strengths.
Totally agree. Now as
Totally agree.
Now as educators will we do the right thing and impliment them the right way next year?
Also, will we have buy in from everyone? Will everyone be willing to put a little more time in where needed.
I feel like I am being negative, but the fact is is that this is not the Almeria I left. Its changed.
I don't think implementation
I don't think implementation is a problem. We just all need to be clear on what we are implementing. According to Stiggin's and DuFour's (2009)structural foundations of productive assessment, we have implemented learning targets, a commitment to standards-based instruction, and are striving to produce high-quality common assessments and effective communication about assessment results. Developing a schedule for implementing pre- and post- common assessments should not be that difficult for our staff.
In response to concerns about "change." As I progress in my studies, I am communicating with teachers all across the United States. The challenges we have experienced are being experienced everywhere. We are only unique in the fact that our staff strives diligently to maintain our focus of promoting student academic achievement. If anything, many of us are completely worn-out at striving to do our best. Are we perfect? Of course not. But, we do have what it takes to meet the challenges ahead, and I have faith that we will.
This clearly goes along with
This clearly goes along with what we are doing in the 6th grade and I believe the rest of the school. I think that one thing that will strengthen the formative assessments done at Almeria is to have the summative assessment done before the lesson begins. Here is what I mean. If your team is teaching about the 8 parts of speach, the team should have the summative assessment completed for this. Then as teaching is occuring the formative assessment helps the teacher and the student know what still needs to be taught and what has been learned by the student. I think that sometimes we teach to the standards and then develop a test for what was taught. In reality all summative assessments should be done prior to the lesson planning. You work backwards. Summative assessment(what you want the students to learn), Lessons to achieve the goal, and foramtive assessments along the way to support the learning.
Let me know if you agree with this or think I am in outer space. :)