What is formative assessment?

In your table group exchange ideas on your definitions of formative assessment.

"I used to think that formative assessment was just the assessment teachers use to figure out if students understood the lesson or not, but I now think that formative assessment is a process which is a series of planning, reflection, and feedback by the teacher and the student."

-Teacher reflection

Types of Assessment

Interim and End-of-unit assessments• Interim goals• Monitoring progress• What has been learned

Annual Assessments• Extended periods of instruction• Long term goals• Sampling of learning

Formative Assessment• Short term goals• Informs immediate teaching

and learning

Formative assessmentWhat it is… What it is not

• A planned process• Based on assessment evidence• Using evidence to make

adjustments to instruction or verify learning

• “Actionable” feedback for students

• Connected to learning targets

• Random questions • Individual strategies• Moving on regardless of student

evidence• Grades or grading

“It is not the instrument that is formative; it is the use of the information gathered, by whatever means, to adjust teaching and learning, that merits the “formative” label.” (Chappuis, 2014)

Embedded Day ProcessAnalyze

student work

Define goals and success criteria

Design task

Try out task with students

Gauge level of success of task

adjust task

Try out new task with students

SMP Proficiency Matrix

SMP Students Initial Intermediate Advanced

3a Construct viable arguments

Explain their thinking for the solution they found.

Explain their own thinking and thinking of others with accurate vocabulary.

Justify and explain, with accurate language and vocabulary, why their solution is correct

Grade level SMP Descriptors

3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. In grade 7, students construct arguments using verbal or written explanations accompanied by expressions, equations, inequalities, models, and graphs, tables, and other data displays (i.e. box plots, dot plots, histograms, etc.). They further refine their mathematical communication skills through mathematical discussions in which they critically evaluate their own thinking and the thinking of other students. They pose questions like “How did you get that?”, “Why is that true?” “Does that always work?” They explain their thinking to others and respond to others’ thinking.

Primary Task

You flew to Cincinnati to see the Bengals game. When you left San Diego, the temperature there was 75 degrees. When you arrived in Cincinnati, it was B 12 degrees. What is the difference in temperature? Use an equation, a number line, and circle your solution.

Steps:• Answer the question independently. Compare answers• As a table team, “classify” the students’ responses. Be ready to justify

why a student’s response warranted being placed in a stack.• Decide which group of responses you will target

Examples of how work could be classified.

Steps:• As a table team, “classify” the students’

responses. Be ready to justify why a student’s response warranted being placed in a stack.

• Decide which group of responses you will target as you construct a new problem or task

• Right vs. wrong answer• Presents all three representations of problem• Accuracy of modeling

Our new targetLearning

TargetSuccess Criteria Formative Assessment

Students can relate their solution to the context in an integer story problem.

I can justify my reasoning in words, numbers, and pictures.(SMPs 3 & 4) I can write a numerical expression to represent an integer story problem I can justify how my expression relates to my model to prove my solution

Supporting questions Where the #’s on the number line? Have you thought about a vertical

number line? What do the #’s mean in relation to one

another? Which city is warmer? Colder? Advancing questions Can you find another way to demonstrate

your thinking? Find an equivalent expression? How can you write an expression with -31

and still add? Can you write an equivalent expression

with a different operation?

Revised TaskThe record high temperature in Green Bay occurred in July when it was 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The coldest day on record occurred in January when it was -31 degrees Fahrenheit. What is the difference between these two temperatures?

What is the question? Picture/ graph/number line

Expression/equation Justify how and why your model and expression/equation proves your solution is correct (include words from the word wall).

Results

• How well did our students hit the target