Essay questions and academic assessment methods

Vignette #1: Maria and her building blocks

Formative assessment involves setting goals and monitoring student learning, to see what information is being retained. If students do not comprehend the material, further review is necessary so students have a secure base to move forward. The teacher can also modify her instructional approach, based upon the feedback from quizzes.

Vignette #2: Quentin, the Quiz Whiz

Quentin is using formative assessments. Formative assessments should be used for the teacher's edification as well as to encourage students to study. Formative assessments give teachers feedback about what students understand and do not understand so they can modify classroom content. They make it easier for teacher to build upon what students actually know, as opposed to what students are supposed to know.

Discussion Questions

Formative assessments are "part of the instructional process. When incorporated into classroom practice, [a formative assessment] provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made" and exist as a "means to gauge, at a particular point in time, student learning relative to content standards" (Garrison & Ehringhaus 2011). Formative assessments should be used periodically during a learning unit to ensure that students understand the content and basic concepts. Summative assessments "merely evaluate if students have fully learned the content" and should be used at the end of a unit to evaluate whether the original lesson objectives have been (Garrison & Ehringhaus 2011).

2. Teachers should be evaluated based upon student progress, rather than upon final results on standardized assessments. Even if a student does not meet district standards, consistent and steady progress towards a goal (as exhibited through improved formative assessments) should be acknowledged as a partial success. Teachers should be educated how to use formative assessments to improve classroom instruction and to be more responsive to student feedback. Not all teachers are aware of the fact that formative assessments should be used to modify their own teaching approach, and not merely to see if students are doing their homework. Teachers should also be more willing to pool their collective knowledge and resources, so they can exchange ideas about using different forms of formative assessments besides quizzes.

3. Formative assessments are as much of a "check in" for me as your child. I am trying to "check" to see what he or she does not understand.