Journal Activity: Article by Sarah McManus

Understanding the CCSSO Definition of Formative Assessment
By: Sarah McManus, Ph.D.


In the article, Dr. McManus spoke of Formative Assessment as an action. Write a brief description or sketch a picture of what this means or looks like to you:

Formative Assessment is an action, not a product.  It is a continual process that we do throughout each school day.  It is not something that we give to students like a summative assessment such as a test.  We are consistently doing it, and the students are actively engaged in doing it. It is an action because students and teachers are consistently doing activities that provide us with information about the progress of students and the effectiveness of the lessons. This allows us to adjust our teaching methods and it provides us information to use as feedback for the students.


Four key words are expressed in the CCSSO definition of Formative Assessment. What are those words and how do they relate to Formative Assessment?


PROCESS:  Process relates to formative assessment because formative assessment IS a process, not a product.  In formative assessment, the process includes providing clear learning targets and criteria for success for the students so that know where they are going; providing evidence of learning during instruction using an array of activities; determining the gaps in learning based on the information received from the evidence, providing students descriptive feedback on where they are in the learning process, and taking action to adjust instruction, the target, or moving to the next target.

DURING:  "During" relates to formative assessment because formative assessment occurs during instruction, not after the instruction is completed.

FEEDBACK:  "Feedback" is related to formative assessment because instead of distributing a grade to the students, it is important to provide descriptive feedback that is related to the criteria for success.  Descriptive feedback can come from the teacher, a peer, or the student.  This will help the students learn to self-assess and take responsibility for their own learning.

STUDENTS:  "Students" are related to formative assessment because students need to be actively engaged in their learning by participating in the formative assessments.  The students should be able to answer three questions; Where am I going, Where am I now, and How do I close the gap?.  Teachers cannot provide all of the answers for the students, the student must be a partner in the learning process.


Why is planning an essential part of insuring that Formative Assessment is
implemented during instruction every day?  

Teachers must plan ahead in order to understand the goal that all students are expected to achieve.  It's essential to understand what the ultimate goal is and how it will be measured in the summative assessment. Formative assessment occurs during the lesson, and students will be expected to make mistakes.  This is why it is important for teachers to plan ahead and anticipate those mistakes so that have a plan for addressing the learning gaps. When planning, teachers must break down the ultimate goal, the big idea, that will be measured on the summative test into smaller, reachable objectives.