Formative Assessment Resources
Formative Assessment
The Formative Assessment process used by teachers can help them determine the status of student learning, giving them the ability to adjust their teaching – in the moment - and to move all learners forward. Embedding formative assessment dimensions in everyday teaching is a research-based practice to improve individual student learning.
View the 2-page overview of the ADE Formative Assessment Framework document.
Effective use of the formative assessment process requires students and teachers to integrate and embed the following practices in a collaborative and respectful classroom environment:
- Clarifying learning goals and success criteria within a broader progression of learning;
- Eliciting and analyzing evidence of student thinking;
- Engaging in self-assessment and peer feedback
- Providing actionable feedback
- Using evidence and feedback to move learning forward by adjusting learning strategies, goals or next instructional steps.
What Formative Assessment is... | What Formative Assessment is not... |
A process used by leaders, teachers and students in partnership | A checklist of what students can’t do or don’t know |
Grounds decision making in ongoing evidence of learning | Separate from learning/working processes |
Transparent about the learning expectations and how to get there | Points, scores, or grades |
A process that moves all student learning forward | A mini-summative assessment, e.g., a test or quiz |
Informs learning, rather than sums up learning with a score | Interpreted only by teachers or leaders |
Framework Roles in Formative Assessment
View an overview of the
Framework
State Education Leaders’ Role in Formative Assessment
Resources
Videos
ADE Charter School Story and Resources
- Arizona Teachers and Students - Learning Targets
- ADE Exlains Arizona Charter School Learning Targets
- Arizona Charter School Teachers and Learning Targets 1
- ADE Charter Schools' Formative Assessment Story
Arizona Department of Education K-12 Standards Math and Formative Assessment
Framework
District and Charter Leaders’ Role in Formative Assessment
Resources
- Shepard et al classroom_assessment_principles 2020
- Jaquith 2020 A Systems Approach to Creating an Ecology of Equity in a High-Poverty District
Videos
Framework
Site Leaders’ Role in Formative Assessment
Resources
- Addressing Early Stage Implementation Challenges in Formative Assessment
- Coaching Guidance to Support Initial Stages of Teacher Learning in Formative Assessment
- Lessons-Learned-Formative-Assessment - Brief
- Leading formative Assessment in Dallas
Videos
Framework
Teachers’ Role in Formative Assessment
Resources
Teacher Practice
- What you Might See - Collaborative Culture and Discourse
- The Teacher's Role in Classroom Discourse
- Formative Assessment Shifts - Teacher Quotes
- Formative Assessment begins with Noticing
- Hilary Johannes' Formative Assessment Learning Journey
- Teacher Stages of Development in Formative Assessment
- Teacher Reflections on Practicing Student-Driven Formative Assessment
Supporting Students
- Supporting the Student Role in Extended Thinking through Discourse
- Arc of Learning - Student and Teacher quotes
- Targeting Instructional Moves to Support Student Agency
- Planning to Support Student Agency through Formative Assessment: Understanding Key Instructional Routines
Classroom Vignettes
Videos
Framework
Students’ Role in Formative Assessment
Resources
Student Discourse
- Types of Discourse
- Cultural Discourse Norms
- Discourse Fundamentals
- Discourse Continuum
- Introduction to Extended Thinking through Discourse Continuum
- Student Reflections on Using the Discourse Continuum
Student Agency
- The Student Role in Formative Assessment Practice_Self-Assessment, Peer Feedback, and Discourse
- Student Agency at the Center of Learning
- Students use the Formative Assessment Feedback Loop
- Student Agency through Formative Assessment
Progressions of Student Learning
- Formative Assessment Arc of Student Learning
- Noticing Student Actions_From Compliance to Agency
- Noticing Learner Agency_Observable Shifts in Student Roles
- Learners' Perspective on Formative Assessment Culture
Videos
Framework Success Criteria
Families’ and Caregivers’ Role in Formative Assessment
Resources
Videos
Check back soon
Other Resources
Additional Research
- Connecting Formative Assessment Research to Practice – An Introductory Guide for Educators (2009) The Connecting Research to Practice brief is intended to enhance the knowledge and build the capacity of state, district and school personnel to implement effective formative assessment practice. The brief defines formative assessment, examines the research, and outlines the components needed to develop a high-quality, research-based formative assessment plan in a state, district or school. Formative Assessment: An enabler of learning (Heritage, 2011) (link file Formative Assessment Article) This two-page article provides a great starting point and foundational information about the process of formative assessment. This article supports the definition of formative assessment as a process and outlines the teacher’s role, the student’s role, feedback and classroom climate as critical parts of the formative assessment process.
- Excerpts from the article_Supporting Teacher Responsiveness by Bronwen Cowie
- The Research Base for Formative Assessment_Getting Smart
Contact Information: Formative Assessment Team, | 602-364-4030