Transformative Assessment

Testing expert W. James Popham provides the definitive nuts-and-bolts introduction to formative assessment, a process with the power to transform teaching and learning.

Donated by Ms. Friedhaber-Hard.

In this follow-up to the best-selling Transformative Assessment, W. James Popham focuses on the decisions involved in the planning and implementation of formative assessment, providing the practical guidance and models you need to turn "formative assessment talk" into "formative assessment action."

This book reports the results of a research project that investigated assessment methods aimed at supporting and improving inquiry-based approaches in European science, technology and mathematics (STM) education. The findings were used to influence policy makers with guidelines for ensuring that assessment enhances learning. The book provides insights about: - The concept of competence within the STM domains and its relevance for education - The conceptualisation and teaching of four key competences: scientific inquiry, mathematical problem-solving, design processes, and innovation. - Fundamental aspects of the two main purposes of assessment, formative and summative, the relations between the two purposes and ways of linking them. - The main challenges related to the uptake of formative assessment in daily teaching-learning practices in STM and specifically, the usability of formative on-the-fly dialogue, structured assessment dialogue, peer assessment and written teacher feedback. - The systemic support measures and tools teachers need in order to integrate formative assessment of student learning into their classroom practices and how it can conflict with summative assessment practices. - How research-based strategies for the formative use of assessment can be adapted to various European educational traditions to ensure their effective use and avoid undesirable consequences. - How relevant stakeholders can be invited to take co-ownership of research results and how a productive partnership between researchers, policy makers, and teachers can be established. - Concrete research vistas that are still needed in international assessment research.

Written under the guidance and with the support of Dylan Wiliam, Kate Jones writes about five formative assessment strategies in action in the classroom, with a foreword from Professor John Hattie. Building on the highly successful work of Wiliam and Siobhan Leahy, ideas are shared and misconceptions with formative assessment are addressed with lots of practical advice. Formative assessment in action focuses on five evidence-informed strategies that the teacher can use to support their learners to make progress. Formative assessment can help both the teacher and student understand what needs to be learned and how this can be achieved. During the learning process, formative assessment can identify students' progress as well as highlighting gaps in their knowledge and understanding, therefore giving the teacher useful insight as to what feedback and instruction can be provided to continue to move learners forward. Formative assessment takes place during the learning process. It continually informs the teacher and student as to how learning can move forward as it is happening. This is different to summative assessment, which focuses on the evaluation of student learning at the end of the process. There's a range of case studies from different subjects and key stages to show how formative assessment can be embedded across a curriculum successfully.

This second edition gives you more than 60 tools--with tips and implementation steps--for creating and using formative assessments in every grade level and subject. --from publisher description

In this follow-up to the best-selling Transformative Assessment, W. James Popham takes you inside the classrooms—and inside the heads—of teachers who are using the formative assessment process to improve student learning. Instead of providing yet another collection of data-gathering techniques, Popham focuses on the real challenge of formative assessment: the decisions involved in its planning and implementation. When does it make the most sense to gather assessment data for the purpose of adjusting teaching and learning? What are the various ways in which the formative assessment process can be applied? How much and what kinds of preparation does formative assessment require? How does it fit into existing unit and lesson plans? How does it fit into preparation for high-stakes testing? And how can teachers best ensure that their formative assessment efforts will really make a difference? According to the author, until the formative assessment process is used in every classroom, students will not be taught as well as they could be—as well as they should be. This book, which includes chapter-specific reflection questions perfect for professional learning communities, provides the practical guidance and models you need to turn "formative assessment talk" into "formative assessment action."

Formative assessment is one of the best ways to increase student learning and enhance teacher quality. But effective formative assessment is not part of most classrooms, largely because teachers misunderstand what it is and don't have the necessary skills to implement it. In the updated 2nd edition of this practical guide for school leaders, authors Connie M. Moss and Susan M. Brookhart define formative assessment as an active, continual process in which teachers and students work together—every day, every minute—to gather evidence of learning, always keeping in mind three guiding questions: Where am I going? Where am I now? What strategy or strategies can help me get to where I need to go? Chapters focus on the six interrelated elements of formative assessment: (1) shared learning targets and criteria for success, (2) feedback that feeds learning forward, (3) student self-assessment and peer assessment, (4) student goal setting, (5) strategic teacher questioning, and (6) student engagement in asking effective questions. Using specific examples based on their extensive work with teachers, the authors provide - Strategic talking points and conversation starters to address common misconceptions about formative assessment; - Practical classroom strategies to share with teachers that cultivate students as self-regulated, assessment-capable learners; - Ways to model the elements of formative assessment in conversations with teachers about their professional learning; - "What if" scenarios and advice for how to deal with them; and - Questions for reflection to gauge understanding and progress. As Moss and Brookhart emphasize, the goal is not to "do" formative assessment, but to embrace a major cultural change that moves away from teacher-led instruction to a partnership of intentional inquiry between student and teacher, with better teaching and learning as the outcome.