Review and response to: Formative assessment and the
contemporary classroom: Synergies and tensions between research and practice
The study conducted was constructed by way of interviews of
a mixture of primary and secondary teachers in southern Ontario, Canada. The
goal of the interviews was to find out the balance of using summative and
formative assessment. Formative assessment was narrowed into the techniques of
questioning, feedback without grades, self-assessment, formative use of
summative assessment, and professional development. This study was a direct
result of the hopeful shift away from “teach, test, and hope for the best”
model that was the mainstay.
The promotion of formative assessment instead of relying on
summative assessment was evident. Too
often there has been a heavy reliance on summative assessment as a way to
measure a student’s placement but that only provides a snapshot in time. A
multi-synergistic approach was recommended with heavy emphasis on formative
assessment that has been evidenced to vastly increase the speed of learning. I
find that there should be an emphasis on formative assessment as there is the
ability to see gains in progress daily and weekly. The conflict arises when
teachers have to match their formative assessment techniques with high stakes
testing where a number score is the only validating measure. Teachers can
neglect formative assessment strategies to teach to the test.
Questioning was a popular formative technique and when used
properly was cited as a way to reduce stress levels. It was noted that a great
way to use questioning is through Bloom’s taxonomy where a teacher should start
at the bottom and work their way up into higher level thinking. I use
questioning a lot in my classroom both in large group settings and individually.
What I don’t think about all the time is incorporating Bloom’s taxonomy to
build into higher level thinking throughout a lesson. That’s kind of ridiculous
seeing that I base by objective around a measurable verb from Bloom’s taxonomy.
I think it’s something that I need to consciously think and write out before a
lesson in a pyramid fashion.
Feedback without grades was of high value of the teachers
interviewed but it has to done correctly and consistently. One teacher promoted
the practice of giving 7 submissions of an assignment with feedback before it
is due and in that way the teacher knows that learning was occurring. Another
point was that the feedback must have significance to the student otherwise it
just becomes marks on an essay. The end goal though is to place more
significance on the process than the graded assignment. I find that in order
for feedback to be effective a student must make improvements either on that
assignment or the next assignment otherwise it’s a waste of time. I like the
idea of providing multiple submissions with feedback before the due date but I
would be concerned on the work load that it could place on me.
Self and Peer assessment were two forms of formative
assessment that the teachers interviewed felt most uneasy about. They
understand that they are both great tools but are sometimes unsure about how to
employ them with success. It is difficult for some teachers to give up some of
their authority and allow students to be in charge of their own learning. It is
equally difficult to measure peer assessment with confidence as there are relationships
that get in the way and students’ lack of the content knowledge. I find
uneasiness in how to approach these two strategies as well. I can remember “editing”
papers in high school and not wanting to offend my classmates. I think it’s
important as a teacher to provide rubrics and to give clear examples of what is
expected. A way that self-assessment is used with some success in my classroom
is students correcting their own math assignment in red pencil. It still gives
my cooperating teacher a chance to see mistakes when they turn it in but it
provides students another opportunity to see exactly where they could improve.
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