1. Formative assessment

2. Why formative assessment? • Formative assessment helps all students but particularly low achievers. Thus it helps to close the gap while raising achievement overall (Black & Wiliam, 1998). • (a bit more here)

3. What is formative assessment? • Ongoing/imbedded in instruction • Provides feedback to both teacher and learner • Informs instruction • Provides next steps for students • Develops students’ awareness of their own learning (metacognitive) • Prompts attention to individual needs

4. Features of formative assessment • Pays attention to detail - what do students know, what can they do, what are next steps? • How do students understand the concepts taught? • What are their understandings? • What are misconceptions? • What experiences do they have that connect?

5. Forms of formative assessment • Conferencing • Observation and feedback on observations • Portfolios • Reflective journals • Questioning, listening and responding • First draft feedback

6. For me . . . Assessment is clearly wherestudent thinkingandteacher thinkingcome together Assessment is about • Questioning • Listening • Responding to student thinking

7. Formative assessment in Ontario classrooms • Drawing on two research projects • CIIM Research Project • What counts in math: Professional Learning Communities focusedon Assessment

8. Assessment strategies

9. Assessment strategies

10. What might this look like in classrooms?

11. Angela • Teaching in ways other than how she was taught • “So I know what it’s like to sit in math and feel frustrated and you have this person talking and talking and talking at you and you don’t hear a word of what they are saying, because you don’t understand the words.” (Angela, interview) • She uses her students’ math journals to get a sense of students’ understanding and to monitor her teaching: • “They help me analyze my program as well so I can say ‘you know what, I’m really spending too much time in procedural stuff but not enough in another area’. . . . So it helps me balance what I’m doing better”. (Angela, interview)

12. Math Forum • Tug of war 1: 4 frogs on one side had a tie with 5 fairy godmothers on the other side. • Tug of war 2: 1dragon had a tie with 2 fairy godmothers and 1frog. • Tug of war 3: 1 dragon and 3 fairy godmothers on one side and 4 frogs on the other side. • Who would win the 3rd tug of war? • Student work in pairs on a problem • Teacher circulates, probes, prompts, questions, listens, observes, takes notes • Pairs of students present solutions, others paraphrase the strategies and ask questions

13. Claire • Claire explained that a high proportion of students had been identified by the school as special needs or at-risk students • Her goal in working with students was to increase their confidence and help them feel more comfortable talking and thinking about mathematics • We observed a high level of student engagement as they moved from small group to whole group and to individual work, and worked with a variety of tools • “Formative assessment is really, really important. And it's their formative assessment and it's their understanding of what they know and what they don't know and what they need to learn. And so I really rely on that a lot” (Claire, interview).

14. Quizzes • Quizzes used as formative assessment • Written feedback • Assistance during the quiz • Clicker quizzes • Students choose an option and key it in • Students then try to convince their partner of their choice • Students respond to the question again

16. Terry • Supportive, collaborate department • A risk-taker • “They [the students] see me sometimes struggling and having issues sometimes with the technology or the manipulatives. So it’s okay. You have to be fearless, you have to try these things and if it messes up it’s alright, just keep trying.” (Terry, interview)

17. Using mathematical thinking tools • Moving students from linear to quadratic relationships - working in groups building models, using graphing calculators, whole class discussions

18. Questioning, listening, responding • “What kind of relation is this?” • “Why is it linear?” • “How do you know?” • “If you were in grade 3 or grade 4, and I said ‘why is this a linear relationship’ and you didn’t know anything about slope or first differences or anything, how would you explain it, do you think?”(Terry, Grade 10 teacher)

19. What counts in math: Teachers talking assessment

20. Teacher study groups (PLC’s) • Two-year project (Nov 2008 – May 2010) • Two school boards • 42 teachers of mathematics in Grades 4 – 12 • Meet in groups of 8 – 12 teachers to discuss the ways that they are incorporating new ideas in their assessment practices (audiotape the discussions) • The purpose is to describe their practices and dilemmas

21. Practices • Performance tasks • Rubrics and creative non-rubrics • Group assessments • Self assessment • Peer assessment • Journals • Portfolios

22. Specific formative assessment strategies & dilemmas • Observing and recording • Paying attention to everyone’s mathematical thinking • Etc.

23. Attention to student thinking: Effects on students • Draw from research projects