Formative assessment is a process, acted out in a formative learning cycle, that partners the teacher and the student to regularly gather evidence of learning with the express goal of improving student achievement. Formative assessment is most effective in classrooms in which the learning cycle enables students to Understand what they are trying to learn and the criteria by which they can assess that learning. Produce evidence of how they are doing. Receive formative feedback. Use the feedback to improve the quality of their work. In this guide, experts Susan M. Brookhart and Jay McTighe show how best to incorporate the formative learning cycle into everyday instruction. They offer techniques for sharing learning targets, assessment activities to use in the classroom, and strategies for providing student feedback. 8.5 x 11 3-panel foldout guide (6 pages), laminated for extra durability and 3-hole-punched for binder storage. Susan Brookhart is professor emerita in the School of Education at Duquesne University and an educational consultant at Brookhart Enterprises LLC, working with schools, districts, regional educational service units, universities, and states doing professional development. Jay McTighe has a varied career in education. He served as director of the Maryland Assessment Consortium, a collaboration of school districts working to develop and share formative performance assessments and helped lead standards-based reforms at the Maryland State Department of Education. Prior to that, he helped lead Maryland’s standards-based reforms, including the development of performance-based statewide assessments. Well known for his work with thinking skills, McTighe has coordinated statewide efforts to develop instructional strategies, curriculum models, and assessment procedures for improving the quality of student thinking. He has extensive experience as a classroom teacher, resource specialist, program coordinator, and in professional development, as a regular speaker at national, state, and district conferences and workshops. McTighe is an accomplished author, having coauthored more than a dozen books, including the award-winning and best-selling Understanding by Design® series with Grant Wiggins. He has written more than 50 articles and book chapters and has been published in leading journals, including Educational Leadership (ASCD) and Education Week. UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN® and UbD® are registered trademarks of Backward Design, LLC used under license. |