Hi again Janet.  Thanks a million for all these resources, I'm very
anxious to study what's going on and how some of these strategies might
work for us here in the U.S.
 
Thanks also for outlining some of your findings on the professional
development piece of this puzzle.  I note that many of the approaches
used are in fact similar.  It makes me think that there may be a 'menu
of options' from which to consider and select what would work best for a
particular program or state.
 
I'm so struck by the Bari, Italy example:  the fact that launching into
formative assessment processes has also affected the stability of the
school staff is huge.  For me, stability in personnel forms a good part
of the backbone to the success of a program.  I think that formative
assessment approaches allow for the inclusiveness that sometimes (ok,
often) is lacking in school systems and programs here in the U.S.  By
inclusiveness, I mean that it should be the ENTIRE staff of a program
that builds that program, not just the leadership, or not just from
directives that come from outside of a school system, for example.  The
student body must also be a part of this inclusiveness - they have a lot
to offer since they are the ones with the goals to achieve and are in
the process of trying to achieve them.  I saw this when I was program
director in the 90s - it was really my staff who built the program, I
was just there to feed them information, guidance, resources, and also
fight for our funding.  If they build it, they will stay.
 
Marie Cora
 
 
Marie Cora
NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator
marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com
Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection
http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
Janet.LOONEY at oecd.org
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 5:22 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 190] Re: Questions on formative assessment
 
Good morning from Paris.  
 
Yesterday, Maria wrote:   " You noted that in Finland, they use "random
sample evaluations of different subjects" - does this mean that they
study test data in subjects on an aggregate level and make
determinations from this?  If so, this would mean that accountability is
spread more broadly, as opposed to studying individual performance/test
data and then linking success or failure to either individuals (the
student or the teacher) or smaller entities (one school as opposed to a
whole school system).  I would think that such an approach would
necessitate studying not only what is happening in the classroom and
school, but also what types of educational materials and assessments are
being used.  Would that be a correct assumption? "
 
You are correct in your assumptions - the test data are used to track
general trends in student learning, not as a mechanism for holding
individual schools  accountable.  Schools being evaluated do receive
their results, but the results are not published more widely.  The
Finnish National Board of Education uses the results of the random
evaluations for ongoing development of the education system and core
curricula.
 
 
Also, you discuss the use of guidelines for promoting formative
assessment in various countries/programs that you studied, and you do
note that one set from New Zealand is available for us to look at.  Are
the other materials from the countries you studied also accessible?
These guidelines, case studies, and action plans would be extremely
helpful in developing a focus on the use of formative assessments in
this country. 
 
Thanks to Susan Reid for providing the url for guidelines used in New
Zealand.  You will find a number of resources from other countries by
searching their sites for "formative assessment".  Sites from the
English-speaking countries will be easiest to follow, of course.
 
- The site for the UK is http://www.dfes.gov.uk
- Learning and Teaching Scotland has a number of resources at
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk
- The Ministry of Education in Canada will also link you to a number of
resources.  See http://www.edu.gov.on.ca
-  For Queensland, Australia, consult http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au
- And as Susan Reid mentioned, you may find resources used by New
Zealand teachers for asTTLE at
htpp://www.tki.org.nz/r/asttle/index_e.php
<http://www.tki.org.nz/r/asttle/index_e.php> ; and other resources at
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/assessment/ 
 
Countries revise their strategies and update and improve materials, so
it is worth checking in from time to time. 
 
Maria wrote that "You note that many teachers described changes in their
behavior once they started to use formative assessments - in their
interactions with students, how they set up learning, in providing
guidance toward goals, and in how they think about student success.  I
would be extremely interested in hearing more about this - can you
provide us with a couple of examples of these types of teacher change?
Did the process of going from random to systematic use of formative
assessments begin with professional development for the teachers,
application of the learning, and then reflecting on the results, or was
it less deliberate?  In other words, did the teachers in your case study
already use this approach and just realized it was successful so
incorporated it further?  Or were these teachers part of a process to
get them to learn and use formative assessment strategies? " 
 
The process of going from somewhat random, or haphazard to systematic
use of formative assessment varied in each of the sites we visited.
Very often the schools featured in our study had been involved in
special pilot projects, partnerships with University-based research
projects, or other innovations.  Participation in special projects
signals that these are schools that are more open to innovation and
change, and is likely one of the reasons the schools have come to the
attention of researchers for our own study. Their experiences also
provide useful lessons for others on the process of change.
 
A couple of examples of how schools approached the process of
integrating formative assessment into regular teaching....At Rosehill
College in Auckland, New Zealand,  the school's involvement in the
national "Assessment for Better Learning" professional development
programme as the development of National Curriculum Exemplars helped
place the focus on formative assessment.  The leadership team  at the
school  also  started staff discussions on formative assessment ,
shared  professional reading on formative assessment ,  invited expert
speakers and asked individual departments tihin the school to work on
their own ideas about how to implement formative assessment within
classrooms.
 
Each of the schools involved in the English case study were part of the
King's-Medway-Oxfordshire Formative Assessment Project initiated in
January 1999 (KMOFAP -  refers to the partnership between Paul Black and
Dylan Wiliam's team at King's College and selected schools in Medway and
Oxfordshire).  The project, funded by the Nuffield foundation,
introduced a small group of teachers (usually department heads)  to the
Black & Wiliam research on formative assessment through a series of
three one-day workshops over a six-month period, and encouraged them to
try out some innovations in their practice, and to plan the innovations
they wanted to implement with one class in the following school year.
These teachers, in turn, shared their ideas with colleagues.   The
process of translating research into practice involved a close
partnership between the University and the schools.   
 
Between 1985 and 1995 the Michelangelo School in Bari, Italy was among a
small number of schools selected by the Italian Ministry of Education to
participate in a project to revise the national valuation form
(mentioned the other day).  This school is unusual in having very low
turnover, in fact, several of the teachers involved in the pilot recall
that the experience of working together on this demonstration project
was key to shaping their strong working relationship.
 
These are just a few of examples.  
 
 
 And I also have a question for subscribers:  Janet notes that one
example of incorporating formative assessment into teaching would be
finding new ways to explain concepts when the student is struggling to
understand.  I'm guessing that this sounds super familiar to everyone
out there - searching for new ways to help the student when the old ways
are not cutting it.   Can subscribers talk about any formative
assessment strategies they use and how this improves classroom or
program level practice 
 
Good discussion question. I'd be very interested in hearing about this
from subscribers, as well.
 
 
Thanks so much!!
 
Marie Cora
 
Marie Cora
NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator
marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com
Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection
http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/
 
 
 
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