GCS Special Friday Notes from the Superintendent

September 21 , 2006

Understanding Formative Assessments

A strong instructional program always includes ongoing student assessments -- formative assessments. Last year, GCS implemented quarterly benchmark assessments in elementary and middle school math and reading, and high school courses that have End of Course exams. This year, GCS has reorganized a section of its Research and Evaluation Department to ensure a more effective benchmarking process that will provide teachers with student data that is more closely aligned with the curriculum.

The focus areas/subjects for this school year are: reading in grades 3 – 8; math in grades 3 – 8; science in grades 5 and 8; writing in grades 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10; English I, Algebra I, Biology, US History and Civics & Economics.

GCS curriculum specialists provide curriculum support to align the curriculum and ensure its proper implementation. Curriculum specialists, along with content specific and grade level specific teachers, are creating curriculum maps in each of the assessed areas.  These maps include weekly objectives to be taught by classroom teachers, time to assess and re-teach or accelerate specific objectives.  

The Office of Accountability and Research will edit and format quarterly benchmarks in the focus areas listed above. Our goal is for teachers to administer the benchmark assessments, analyze the results to determine which objectives have been mastered, and spend the next one to two days using cooperative learning techniques to RE-TEACH the material(s) not mastered or to accelerate learning.  The benchmark tests are aligned with the NC Standard Course of Study and with the GCS curriculum maps so that selected objectives are tested each quarter. Frequent monitoring of student progress and immediate intervention will help our students meet academic standards.

Research clearly supports the importance of aligning what is taught (the curriculum), how it is taught (best practices) with progress assessments (benchmarks). Benchmark assessments provide immediate feedback to teachers and principals about student progress on specific objectives.

Our ultimate goal is for teachers to use more frequent assessments or “mini-assessments” to regularly monitor student progress. These assessments will be written collaboratively by teachers within the same school, department, grade level, or team to evaluate students every two to three weeks between units of instruction. Teachers will immediately review the data and re-group students to re-teach the material or accelerate learning for those who have shown mastery.

Teachers may develop multiple choice, essay, short answer, project-based, or performance-based assessments so that groups of teachers will be able to address the needs of students by working together to re-group students.

Both quarterly benchmarks produced by the GCS central office and mini-assessments produced by teachers are examples of formative assessment designed to improve and inform instruction.

The purpose of formative assessment includes:

• Monitor the progress of teaching and learning
• Diagnose students’ learning strengths and weaknesses
• Evaluate/self evaluate teachers’ instructional effectiveness
• Determine next step for teaching and learning

Formative assessments provide valuable information to teachers about individual and groups of students. 

• How the whole class has performed
• Subgroups that have not mastered the unit
• Students who have not mastered key concepts/principles
• Individual students’ knowledge structures and problem-solving strategies
• Interventions needed to help all students make improvement

Teachers can then make informed decisions based on data regarding their instruction.  Teachers then use formative assessments to answer the following questions:

• Should a lesson be extended or terminated?
• Is the pace of the lesson too fast or too slow?
• Is remediation needed?
• Is more work needed for individual students?
• Should teaching strategies be altered?

The implementation of formative assessments, including both quarterly benchmarks and teacher-developed mini-assessments, is very important. Like any other instructional initiative, they must be used appropriately. The following list indicates possible drawbacks or concerns that must be monitored regularly when implementing a formative assessment plan.

• Low quality classroom assessments that waste instructional time
• Classroom assessments are not integrated with teaching and learning and assessments become a burden for teachers and students
• Too many items at very low levels (e.g. recall/memory) provide no/little help for students’ achievement
• Too much assessment data that is not easily processed and utilized

In order to avoid these possible drawbacks, teachers must work collaboratively, the curriculum must be closely aligned with the assessment, and principals must serve as strong instructional leaders in their schools. When used appropriately, formative assessments provide a win-win solution for teachers and students as they provide immediate feedback on specific instructional goals. We should strive for the following positive educational consequences of formative assessment:

• Teachers who are actively involved in developing, implementing and improving formative assessments
• Teachers who understand and are eager to use the assessment data to improve their teaching and student learning
• Students who can clearly see their strengths, improvement needed and progress through the formative assessments. They are highly motivated in their learning and make great progress in the EOGs and EOCs through self-regulation and effective learning strategies
• Parents who are involved in their child's learning       

Formative assessments are not designed to tell students how they are doing; but rather, they are designed to inform teachers of how successful they have been in teaching the desired material to students. The process is designed to ensure students master learning. If students have not mastered the material being assessed, the teacher MUST spend additional time re-teaching the content until mastered. Only then, should the teacher move to the next unit. Students demonstrating mastery can either participate in cooperative learning activities that further strengthen their knowledge of the concepts OR they may engage in accelerated work provided by the teacher. 

The GCS benchmark schedule for all schools is outlined below.  Questions regarding this information should be directed to the formative assessment department at 336-370-2371.

Elementary and Middle School Benchmark Schedule
High School Benchmark Schedule
Early and Middle College Benchmark Schedule