A Holistic Approach to Formative Assessments?
I grew up as a k-12 student who was always under the radar. I hardly ever raised my hand. I mostly made A’s and B’s. I was an attentive learner. I was the type of student that is easy to forget because they do nothing to stand out. I wasn’t the highest or lowest achiever. I didn’t misbehave in class. I didn’t speak unless it was required. That all being said, I know there were times that I sat in my classroom chair head-bobbing back at my teacher because I was a people-pleaser and too insecure to ask questions if I didn’t understand something.
All teachers have experienced this type of student. Last semester, in one of the university level courses I teach, the entire lesson was on artificial intelligence in education, except that I called it “AI” the whole time. At the end of the class (which, by the way, had lecture, small group discussions, and group work), a student walked up after everyone was mostly gone and said, “I know I should have asked this much earlier, but what does AI stand for? What does that mean?” Everything inside me wanted to say, “What? Why didn’t you ask earlier?!” but I then remembered that I once was a student just like this. I berated myself because I had spent an hour and thirty minutes teaching my students and didn’t realize someone wasn’t tracking with me at all.
This is why I believe it is important to not only check for understanding, but also check for student confidence. While I am being held accountable for the information that my students learn at the end of the semester, I see my role as so much more than this. I feel it is also my job to lead my students towards becoming confident learners as well. I need to empower my students to not be afraid to ask what feels like a silly question. I need to show them the value of the process of learning. I need to make failure feel less like a catastrophe and more like an opportunity.
How does formative assessment play into this? There are two major types of formative assessment approaches —
- DBDM (Data-Based Decision Making): Focuses on using data to achieve specific learning outcomes and achievement. DBDM can take place at the level of the school, the classroom, and student levels. DBDM is a systemic process and usually starts with a certain purpose, often taking the form of reducing the gap between the current and desired levels of student achievement.
This is the type of formative assessment we most often see in today’s classrooms. But there is also,
- AfL (Assessments for Learning): AfL focuses on the quality of the learning process instead of on its outcomes. It can take place at the level of the classroom and the student. AfL is part of everyday practice by students, teachers, and peers that seeks, reflects upon and responds to information from dialogue, demonstration, and observation in ways that enhance ongoing learning.
It is my desire to bridge those two different approaches to create a more holistic approach to the concept of checking for understanding. What if I not only ask students what the answer is, but how confident they are about their answers? What if my formative assessments weren’t a grade for the grade-book but just served as a check for understanding that not only helped me see where the learning gaps were, but let the students see as well. By not taking a grade, students start to learn the value of self-reflection. What if after each question, students got feedback about what they missed and what the correct answer was? Taking that one step further, after looking at the feedback, what if students are asked again if they now understand it or do they need help ALL WITH THE CLICK OF A BUTTON? This takes the angst off the student who doesn’t want to ask for help in front of their peers. This gives the teacher relevant, timely feedback to help that most quiet student that might have gone the entire class without asking that very important question.
At CheckForU, all those options are available. We aren’t like other formative assessment platforms- we want to help the teacher see those data points and the human that created them. If you feel like your students are more than a data point, join us at www.checkforu.com for holistic formative assessments.
Kim Schildkamp, Fabienne M. van der Kleij, Maaike C. Heitink, Wilma B. Kippers, Bernard P. Veldkamp,
Formative assessment: A systematic review of critical teacher prerequisites for classroom practice,
International Journal of Educational Research, Volume 103, 2020, 101602, SSN 0883–0355, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101602
