Assessment and Teaching Strategies Tied to Successful Formative Assessment

According to studies done by Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black the assessment and teaching strategies most closely tied to successful formative assessment are:

1) Effective Questions

Asking meaningful questions, increasing the wait time for student answers and having rich follow-up activities that extend student thinking. "Put simply, the only point of asking questions is to raise issues about which a teacher needs information or about which the students need to think." (2) p.13

2) Appropriate Feedback

In reviewing the research Black and Wiliam found that giving grades does not improve performance. Using tasks and oral questioning that encouraged students to show understanding, providing comments on what was done well and what needs improvement, also with guidance on how to make improvements should be the focus instead of grades.

3) Peer- and Self-Assessment

Peer-assessment and self-assessment "secure aims that cannot be achieved in any other way." (2) p.15 Achieving success requires that students have a clear understanding of the standards and be taught the skills of peer- and self-assessment.

Paul Black, C. H., Clare Lee, Bethan Marshall, and Dylan Wiliam (2004). "Working Inside the Black Box: Assessment for Learning in the Classroom". Phi Delta Kappan: 9-21.

"By introducing Exemplars we have come to realize that we were providing the foundation for our teachers to begin moving toward formative assessment practices"

C. Carlton
Interdisciplinary Curriculum Specialist K-12
Nashua, NH