Let me jump into the discussion between Aaron and John about "formative
assessment being yet another thing to add to teachers' already long list of
tasks to do".  

As John notes, Black and Wiliam do argue that formative assessment should
replace/improve what teachers already do.  Our argument in the OECD study is
that formative assessment should be an overall framework for teaching - part
of the classroom culture, where teachers and students use tools for
assessment, set goals and track progress, use varied approaches to
teaching,learning and assessment, and give regular feedback on how to reach
learning goals.  

One of the school leaders in a school we visited said that formative
assessment had helped them to be more strategic about innovation...rather
than just letting a thousand flowers bloom.

It's also important to note that the process of introducing change involves
some pragmatic solutions.  For example, teachers involved in a couple of the
English case study schools had gotten into the habit of giving individual
students feedback orally, and having the student record the feedback in their
learning journal....saving quite a bit of time for the teacher. 

Other teachers said they invested more time up front in training students to
use criteria and rubrics for self and peer-assessment, but saved a lot of
time later - and also built students' learning to learn skills.  

Sometimes teachers decided to cut back on the quantity of learning to focus
on quality...those core concepts most important for students to understand if
they are really to grasp the subject.

I agree with John that formative assessment can improve/add to  teaching
skills incrementally and teachers do not have to change everything.  It's
kind of a "scaffolding" for teachers, and ultimatey more effective as
teachers see small changes and build their confidence.

In response to John's question on what will come out of the OECD study on
adult basic skill learners and foramtive assessment: 

- We are finalising country background reports addressing challenges facing
countries, and current policy approaches.  These will appear on our Internet
site over Autumn 2006.  Then countries are contributing background reports.
They include: Australia, Belgium (the Flemish Community), Denmark, England,
France, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Spain and the United States.

- We are gathering findings from the country case studies.  Seven countries
are contributing case studies.  They include: Belgium (the Flemish
Community), Denmark, England, France, Norway, Scotland, and the United
States.

- We have also commissioned reviews of English-language, German-language and
Spanish literature.

Each of these components will inform the OECD analysis. The final OECD report
on the study findings is scheduled for mid-2007.  

We will also share the findings in confererences and workshops, and with this
discussion group!

- Janet

Analyst and Project Lead, What Works in Innovation
Centre for Educational Research and Innovation
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
www.oecd.org/edu/ceri
Phone: +33 (0)1 45 24 91 71
Fax:     +33 (0)1 44 30 63 94 



-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Benseman John
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 11:42 PM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 186] Re: Formative Assessment
inInternationalEducation


In response to Aaron's posting about formative assessment being yet another
thing to add to teachers' already long list of tasks to do:
 

*	
	Black and Wiliam argue that formative assessment should
replace/improve what teachers already do, not just be added on top of every
thing else.
*	
	the point about formative assessment is to improve what we already do
as teachers and make better use of the information that we get in the process
*	
	one of the attractions about formative assessment is that teachers
can improve/add to their teaching skills incrementally and not have to change
everything - they could for example focus on improving their questioning
skills before tackling students learning to review each others' work

Two other points about formative assessment:

*	because it is fundamentally about generic aspects of teaching, it has
currency for all teachers, irrespective of the content of their teaching,
level etc. It is a very good strategy for professional development because of
its relevance across the board
*	being involved in developing formative assessment usually involves
peer observation for teachers, which is probably one of the best prompts to
critically review our own practices. My own interest in formative assessment
was initially prompted by carrying out an observation study of 15 literacy
and numeracy teachers (
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=10929&indexid=
1028&indexparentid=1000 ), which really brought home to me the importance of
generic teaching skills such as questioning (eg teachers asking questions and
then supplying the answer themselves ('rescuing' their learners so that they
don't feel failures) about 2 seconds later) and scaffolding off learners'
responses.

Janet - it might be useful to outline what is going to come out of the OECD
study when it is published?

John

John Benseman PhD
 
Director of Research & Evaluation, Upskilling NZ
(based at Department of Labour)
DDI 04 915 4195 - Cell: 021 0489 143
 
Faculty of Education, The University of Auckland
PB 92019, Auckland, NZ
*   j.benseman at auckland.ac.nz <mailto:j.benseman at auckland.ac.nz> 
(   0064 9 623 8899, ext 87161
7 0064 9 373 7455
Office location: Room 365, N Block, Epsom Campus

________________________________

From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Kohring, Aaron M
Sent: Thu 7/09/2006 6:36 a.m.
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 184] Re: Formative Assessment in
InternationalEducation



 David,

I was struck by your last question in regards to my own work: Do we need to
pay more attention to formative assessment in the U.S.?

I would say- Yes.

With teachers that I've worked with- they always mention how the standardized
(summative) tests they are required to administer do not really tell them
what they need to be teaching.  Then we go another step and talk about how
formative assessments add to that picture of what learners know and can do-
thus giving them more information about what to teach as well as helping to
show progress.

Yet, some of the recurring themes many instructors seem to deal with-
especially in the U.S.- where many only work part-time are:
1) Having time (preferably paid) for: working with learners to assess what
they want to know and be able to do, understanding where they are starting
from, planning the lesson along with useful assessment(s), etc.
2) Not having much experience in developing a 'suitable' formative assessment
3) Dealing with tensions for accountability (needing to show level gains
based on acceptable reporting measures for the federal government)

So does that mean education to understand the benefits and uses of formative
and summative assessments?  Professional development on developing/creating
assessments?  Educating legislators/funders about issues with accountability
and part-time staff?  All of these?

Aaron 

-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 8:16 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 180] Formative Assessment in International Education

Special Topics Discussion Subscribers,

We would like to hear from you.

What has been your experience with formative assessment?
Do you use formative assessment strategies in your classroom? Have you done
research -- qualitative or quantitative, including classroom research -- on
the effects of formative assessment? What did you find? Are you satisfied
with using only summative (standardized per-post
NRS-required) assessment?
Do we need to pay more attention to formative assessment in the U.S.?

Our discussion ends soon so please post your answers or questions now.

Thanks.

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



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