Hello David,

I'VE PLACED MY REPLIES BELOW IN CAPS, FOLLOWING EACH OF THE QUESTIONS YOU
SENT.  

You wrote:

The OECD's interest in formative assessment is based on research  
supporting
the effectiveness of the approach (in their seminal 1998 review* ,  
Paul Black
and Dylan Wiliam describe the achievement gains associated with  
formative
assessment as "among the largest ever reported for educational  
interventions.")
It has also emerged as an important strategy for education reform in  
several countries.

* See Black P. and D. Wiliam (1998), "Assessment and Classroom  
Learning",
Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, CARFAX,
Oxfordshire, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 7-74.

Based on the Black and William study, if the same findings were to  
hold true for adults as for secondary school students , that the use  
of (systematic) formative assessment is associated with very large  
learning gains, perhaps the Black and William study should be  
replicated in adult learning settings. Are the OECD case studies a  
step toward that? Are they a way to investigate whether such a study  
would be warranted?

DAVID, 
WE HAVE COMMISSIONED REVIEWS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE ON ADULT
TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT (THUS FAR FOR ENGLISH, GERMAN AND SPANISH
LITERATURE), TO LEARN MORE ABOUT "WHAT'S OUT THERE" IN THE RESEARCH ON ADULT
BASIC SKILL LEARNING, AND WHETHER IT WOULD INDEED BE POSSIBLE TO REPLICATE
THE BLACK & WILIAM STUDY.  THE BLACK & WILIAM STUDY GATHERED A WIDE RANGE OF
ARTICLES ON ECOLOGICALLY VALID CONTROLLED STUDIES OF FORMATIVE APPROACHES AND
TECHNIQUES (COVERING, AS THEY DESCRIBE "...ALL THOSE ACTIVITIES ENCOMPASSING
ALL THOSE ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN BY TEACHERS, AND/OR BY THEIR STUDENTS, WHICH
PROVIDE INFORMATION TO BE USED AS FEEDBACK TO MODIFY THE TEACHING AND
LEARNING ACTIVITIES IN WHICH THEY ARE ENGAGED.")

THUS FAR, WE HAVE FOUND VERY FEW SIMILAR CONTROLLED STUDIES FOR ADULT BASIC
SKILL LEARNERS IN THE INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE.  THE FEW EXISTING EMPIRICAL
STUDIES DO APPEAR TO POINT TO THE PROMISE OF FORMATIVE METHODS FOR ADULTS, AS
DO ARTICLES BASED ON "PRACTITIONER WISDOM".  

OUR OWN CASE STUDIES ARE NOT SET UP AS CONTROLLED STUDIES OF FORMATIVE
APPROACHES AND TECHNIQUES.  RATHER, OUR INTENTION IS TO EXAMINE WHAT
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE, WHAT KIND OF BARRIERS
INSTRUCTORS AND PROGRAMME LEADERS CONFRONT IN TRYING TO INTEGRATE FORMATIVE
METHODS INTO REGULAR TEACHING AND LEARNING AND HOW THEY ADDRESS THOSE
BARRIERS.  WE HAVE ASKED OUR CASE STUDY PARTICIPANTS FOR EVIDENCE AND/OR
INDICATORS OF THE IMPACT OF THE FORMATIVE METHODS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING.  

THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEWS OF LITERATURE AND CASE STUDIES WILL HELP TO
IDENTIFY THE GAPS AND MOST PROMISING DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH (BOTH
QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE).

Are you aware of any other studies of the use of formative assessment  
with adults other than those OECD is conducting now?

THE NATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE FOR ADULT LITERACY AND NUMERACY
IN THE UK, ONE OF OUR PARTNERS IN THIS RESEARCH (www.nrdc.org.uk), HAS
INITIATED A STUDY ON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT FOR ADULT BASIC SKILL LEARNERS
(WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE NUFFIELD FOUNDATION, WHICH SUPPORTED THE BLACK &
WILIAM WORK, AS WELL) NIACE (THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADULT CONTINUING
EDUCATION - ENGLAND AND WALES) [www.niace.org.uk] HAS ALSO INITIATED PROJECT
INVESTIGATING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT. 

And here are three questions for discussion participants:

1. Are you involved in a program which actively engages in formative  
assessment?  If so, tell us about your practice.  What do teachers  
and learners look at? How are data from formative assessment used to  
improve the learning process?
2. What do you think is the right mix of formative and summative  
assessment?
3. How did you learn how to do formative assessment?

David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net




-------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Special Topics mailing list
SpecialTopics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/SpecialTopics