FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

LESSON 14:
 OBJECTIVES
In this lesson you will be able to:

• differentiate formative assessment from summative tests;

• apply formative assessment strategies in formulating instructional plans;
• and develop an instructional plan using formative assessment
strategies.
 INTRODUCTION

We have learned the basic principles behind assessment. We now

have an idea on the assessment cycle and how it is conducted. In
this lesson, we are going to look into formative assessment and its
importance in the ensuring that learning objectives are instilled to
the learners.
 THINK: FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Unlike summative assessment where the objective is to evaluate student

performance to be graded, and which is normally formal, formative
assessments are designed around the aim to determine what the learners know
as they are in the process of learning. It is used mainly to gather information
about learner performance, and use that to make informed decision on future
instruction. In a way, formative assessment does not refer to the assessment
itself, but rather to the function that evidence from the assessment serves. It
can also be called informative assessment as it provides information to the
teacher on the performance of the learners as they go through the learning
experience.
For effective implementation of formative assessment in the
classroom, it has to be planned and be strategic. By the very nature
of formative assessment, it is an ongoing assessment of learner
performance and should provide the teacher with valuable
information about their progress. As they are usually not graded,
formative assessment strategies are mainly used to guide
instruction.
 A formative assessment system to be used in the classroom
tries to answer the following questions:
Where am I going?

Learners must be able to know what the learning objectives are or what the general goal
of the lesson is to give them an idea of what is expected of them in the lesson or unit. So
at the onset of the lesson, teacher and learners must have a very clear idea of the learning
objectives that the learners need to attain. The learning objectives must describe the
knowledge, skills, and understandings that the learners will learn and aim for in the
lesson. The teacher should also describe the criteria that would indicate mastery of the
competency. They could be worded in the view of the learner for them to a have a sense
of ownership of it.
 Example of these objectives could be:

• I can identify a sequence of events (beginning, middle, and

end) in a story.
• I can draw and write sentences about these actions using
signal words to indicate the sequence.
Where am I now?

This should be able to give the learners an idea where they are in
reaching the learning objective and they should be given regular
checks on progress on their way. These check the learners'
understanding and let the teacher glimpse at the progress of the
learners.
These checks need not be formal nor should be left at the end of the unit,
lesson, or year. Though common pen and paper quizzes are useful in
checking the understanding of the learners, the teacher could be more creative
in implementing more formative assessment strategies. Some of these could
include:

• Oral recitation
• Questioning
• Project outputs
• Surveys
• Raising hands or thumbs
• Writing activities
Writing could be an excellent formative assessment strategy because of the
nature of the activity as a complex cognitive process. It helps provide an idea
on how the learners think. This is where good writing prompts will go along
the way to help the teacher gather information. As important as gathering
information to the learners' progress is providing them with feedback to let
them determine how they are faring. This is where the essence of feedback
comes in, as feedback provides the learners with a picture very about their
success and needs in order to improve their performance.
 Feedback must have the following traits in order to
be effective:

Goal-referenced - The feedback must be able to tell the learner if they are on
the right track in attaining the learning objective or not.

Tangible - The feedback should help the learners learn from it and relate it to
the learning objective.

Actionable - The feedback must be concrete, specific, and useful in the sense
that the learners can tell what to do next to improve performance.
User-friendly - The feedback must be worded in a language the learners can
understand. Making it too complicated or technical cannot yield actionable
response.

Timely The feedback should be provided at the right timing to give the
learner enough time to improve their work.
Examples of good feedback to learners could include:

• You have used precise language in this paper. I saw the scenes
from my mind's eye.
• I got confused by your paper. You have a weak thesis and you
have failed to provide concrete pieces of evidence in the
succeeding paragraphs.
What can I do to get where I need to go?

Teachers provide the learners with a plan and activities to help them attain
the learning objectives. Using the data from the formative assessment given
to the learners, the teachers can now use them to plan, to improve
instruction or make tweaks in his/her strategies, and to help learners
improve.
THANK YOU