Using Formative Assessment at School

Formative assessments at the school level can be used to:

Track student progress through the approved curriculum and against state and provincial standards;

Identify the needs and challenges of specific classes, grade levels, and demographic groups;

Create profiles of individual student learners, and identify students with specific needs, and plan instructional sequences that meet their needs;

Identify leaders among the teaching faculty and areas where sharing instructional plans and strategies may help to provide additional support for individual teachers; and

Analyze dissaggregated data for comparison and instructional planning related to district and state assessment goals.

Formative assessment contributes to student ownership of learning more than any other classroom-based practice. Bloom (1984) found that student achievement, motivation, and time on task were significantly higher in classes characterized by formative assessment (a key element of Bloom’s mastery learning approach), even compared with students taught by the same teacher with more conventional methods!

From Professional Learning Board’s online continuing education course for teachers: Formative Assessment