Formative Assessment & English

LearnersGetting Smarter Conference

March 11, 2014Dr. Karla Groth

Recognize the key features of the formative assessment process

Understand how educators can use the formative assessment process to support the needs of English learners

Consider the relationship between the 21st century standards, formative assessments, and English learners

Outcomes

First with a partner & then in your table groups, please discuss the following: Explain your

knowledge of assessments & English learners

Discuss one thing you hope to gain as a result of this session

Table Talk 1 - Chart

Resources

ELA/ELD

Framework

1. Attain English proficiency

2. Accelerate academic content learning

Goals for English Learners

The Big Picture

ELA/ELD Framework; Ch.8, p.6

Formative or Summative????

When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative;

When the guests taste the soup, that’s summative.

Formative Assessment Cycle

Examine Student

Work

Inform Teacher

Knowledge

Inform Instructional

Moves

Select an Instructional

Task

Anticipate Student

Understanding

Administer Tasks

The Formative Assessment Cycle

“Formative assessment occurs in real time, during instruction while student learning is underway.” (Allal 2010; 90 Black and Wiliam 1998; Bell and Cowie 2000; Heritage 2010; Shepard 2000 2005).

Formative Assessment Defined

Provide information about student learning in relationship to lesson goal/learning target

Provide teachers with information immediately usable to adjust instruction

The Purpose of Formative Assessment

Clear learning goals & success criteria

Eliciting gathering and interpretation

Responsive pedagogical action

Student involvement(Margaret Heritage, Presentation Irvine CA, February 25, 2014)

The Essential Elements of Formative Assessment

Minute-by-minute Assessments Daily/Lesson Assessments Weekly Assessments

Short-Cycle Formative Assessment

Where am I going?

Where am I know?

How do I close the gap?

Three Questions

“Collaborative professional structures, such as learning communities, should be the nexus of learning and work that teachers do relative to assessment (see Chapter 11) in which assessment is viewed as a cycle of inquiry.”(ELA/ELD Framework, Ch.8, p.4)

Collaborative Structures & Formative Assessment

Collaboration

Participating in discourse practices

Careful listening and building on ideas

Joint development of thinking

Individual and group responsibilities(Margaret Heritage, Presentation Irvine CA, February 25, 2014)

Practices & Routines

Teachers and students have a shared understanding of what evidence gathering entails - common purpose

Creating opportunities through tasks and interaction for students’ language and content learning to be revealed

Evidence gathering planned and has place in the ‘rhythm’ of instruction

Private and public activity to reveal learning (Margaret Heritage, Presentation Irvine CA, February 25, 2014)

Desired Outcomes of the Formative Assessment Process

Please provide your feedback on the day

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

C. S. Lewis

Feedback

Feedback Teacher Feedback Peer Feedback Self-Assessment

Student Involvement

“Whatever the source of the evidence, the teachers’ role is to construct or devise ways to elicit responses from students that reveal where they are in their learning and to use the evidence to move learning forward.” (Sadler 1989)ELA/ELD Framework; Ch. 8, p.10

The Teacher’s Role

From Dylan William:

Provide feedback that moves learners forward. Comments that address what the student needs to do to improve, linked to rubrics when appropriate, promote further learning more effectively than letter grades do.

Activate students as the owners of their own learning. For example, have students assess their own work, using agreed-on criteria for success.

Encourage students to be instructional resources for one another. Peer assessment and feedback is often more acceptable and engaging for students than teacher feedback is.

Educational Leadership December 2007/January 2008 | Volume 65 | Number 4 Informative Assessment Pages 36-42 “Changing Classroom Practice”

Student Role

Formative Assessment’s Role in a Comprehensive Assessment System

You have learned a little about the role of the teacher & the student: What is the role of

the site administrator in the formative assessment process?

Table Talk 2 - Chart

Formative assessment is a set of practices that supports quality teaching and learning

Formative assessment practices enable student agency

Teachers implement formative assessment practices through four signature pedagogies

(Margaret Heritage, Presentation Irvine CA, February 25, 2014)

A Summary

English Learners and Formative Assessment

Contingent Learning

Chapter 8: AssessmentAssessment Cycles

Short-Cycle Formative Assessment ◦ Minute-by-minute Assessments ◦ Daily/Lesson Assessments ◦ Weekly Assessments

Medium-Cycle Assessment ◦ End-of-Unit/Project Assessments

Long-Cycle Assessment ◦ Annual/End-of-Year Assessments

ELA/ELD Framework

“This chapter describes what is involved in the skilled use of assessment to support student attainment of the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and the CA ELD standards.”

Purpose

EL students may not be able to fully express their ideas because of their proficiency level◦ This should not be taken to mean they

don’t understand the content or learning target

English learners (regardless of proficiency level) need to be engaged in intellectually-rich tasks at the same rigorous cognitive level as all students

The Formative Assessment Process and English learners

“When considering what kind of feedback to give their EL students, teachers should focus first and foremost on communication and meaning-making, rather than correcting every grammatical error, and they should encourage EL students to take risks when using English. These risks need to be taken in a safe and supportive environment where students are free to make mistakes as they learn English.”ELA/ELD Framework; Ch.8, p.29

Feedback & English learners

With a Partner Discuss: What aspect of

formative assessment for English learners resonated the most with you?

What clarifications or additional information would be helpful or necessary for you in your current role?

Table Talk 3 - Chart

Policy & Leadership Considerations

Recognize language demands of 21st century competencies for deeper learning

Build instructional capacity to develop ELs’linguistic resources and content knowledge &skills simultaneously

Move to coherent, balanced assessment systems that support a learning culture

Clarify what FA means & looks like in a comprehensive assessment system

(Robert Linquanti, Presentation Irvine CA, February 25, 2014)

Policy Consideration in Supporting Formative Assessment for ELs

(Presentation by Kenji Hakuta, 2013)

21st Century Language Demands

Another View

(Presentation by Kenji Hakuta, 2013)

Teachers View Formative Assessment as a process NOT an event:

1. Clarifying and Sharing learning goals2. Involving classroom discussions, questions, and

activities that provide evidence of student learning3. Providing feedback to move student learning

forward4. Activating students as owner of their learning5. Activating students as learning resource to each

other

(“Five Key Strategies for Effective Formative Assessment, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics,2007)

Building Instructional Capacity

Inherently dialogic, requires purposefulinteraction to make meaning

Develops academic uses of language via collaborative grappling with content

Strengthens reflection and feedback for

student and teacher(Robert Linquanti, Presentation Irvine CA, February 25, 2014)

Why is Formative Assessment Critical English Learners?

Teacher Student Student Student

Summative

Assessmen

t

Interim Assessment

InterimAssessmen

tFormative

Assessmen

t

Questions

What you think of me,I’ll think of me.

What I think of me,I’ll be.

Anonymous