Assessment ‘for’ and ‘of’ learning
To support technology, funding must be provided to invest in hardware, software, teacher professional development, and support systems. Our school district has made an investment into technology, but with this funding, the public looks for returns on this investment. Our school district will be held accountable for this spending; therefore, the district is pushing the implementation of sound formative assessment practices supported by these technologies.
It is the school district’s desire to make ‘assessment for learning’ more prevalent within the Student Success Goals and our Accountability Contract.
The difference between assessments:
a) Formative Assessment: Assessment ‘for’ learning.
b) Summative Assessment: Assessment ‘of’ learning
A ‘red-necked’ analogy:
In logging, summative assessment would be the measuring of the full grown trees. Though it is valuable to compare, analyze, and evaluate results, these very acts do not affect the actual growth process.
Formative assessment, on the other hand, is equivalent to feeding and protecting our saplings. Each directly affects the maturation of the tree.
These two assessments are interconnected, each rarely standing alone. Formative assessment, though generally an informal evaluation, may have the greatest impact on active learning. Formative assessment “… is essentially used to feed back into the teaching and learning process” (Tunstall and Gipps, 1996). Formative assessment is the process of gathering information during the learning process.
In a ProD workshop, Anne Davies eloquently summarized:
” The concept of Assessment for Learning is to empower students in their own learning. By helping students identify what they already know, what needs to be learned and what success looks like, students can discover how to guide their own learning, self-assess, set goals and communicate the evidence of their learning. In essence, students self-monitor their way to success and take ownership of their education.”
Reference:
Tunstall, P., & Gipps, C. (1996). Teacher feedback to young children in formative assessment: A typology. British Educational Research Journal, 22 (4).