Designing 21st Century Universal Classrooms

What is formative assessment?

Formative assessment is the practice of frequently monitoring and assessing the learning of all students and adjusting instruction to better meet their needs. CCSU recognizes the critical importance of formative assessment in ensuring that all students make continuous progress in reaching and exceeding standards. By placing an emphasis on formative assessment, or assessment for learning, CCSU works to promote classroom practices in on-going monitoring of student learning by gathering evidence of understanding and misunderstanding on concepts, content, and skills. Providing continual feedback to learners enables both students and teachers to work together to close gaps between current learning and established learning intentions.

Checking for understanding is the hallmark of assessment for learning. Teachers emphasize the use of feedback (both student self-assessment as well as peer and teacher feedback) to monitor progress toward established learning goals for continuous improvement in both learning and teaching. Progress monitoring systems are designed to improve communication about student performance within and beyond the professional learning community. Information from common interim, benchmark, and summative assessments is used formatively to the greatest extent possible.

What is the purpose of formative assessment?

The Formative Assessment Project (FAP)

During the 2009-2010 school year, four CCSU schools (Summit, Hiawatha, Fleming, and EHS) are participating in Vermont’s Formative Assessment Project. In Vermont, formative assessment is defined as the gathering of evidence of learning in the classroom to guide instruction and adapt teaching to meet student learning needs. The purpose of the Formative Assessment Project (FAP) is to develop greater capacity for teachers to frequently monitor the learning of all students and adjust instruction to better meet their needs. The Formative Assessment Project, coordinated by Ken Remsen, uses the Educational Testing Service’s, Keeping Learning on Track (KLT) Program along with the formation of small sustainable teacher learning communities (TLCs) in which participants learn and refine the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively implement and sustain formative assessment practices in their classrooms.

Last updated: Aug 12 at 1:40 pm