Dylan Wiliam

Formative e-assessment: some theoretical resources Dylan Wiliam www.dylanwiliam.net

A brief history of formative assessment

“ Formative assessment” has been used to describe:

The time at which the assessment is scheduled

Any assessment taken before the last one

A purpose for assessing

“ Assessment for learning”

A function that the assessment outcomes serve

Assessments that change teaching

Formative use of assessments

Feedback metaphor

Feedback in engineering

Positive feedback

Leads to explosive increase or collapse (bad!)

Negative feedback

Leads to asymptotic convergence to, or damped oscillation about, a stable equilibrium

Components of a feedback system

data on the actual level of some measurable attribute;

data on the reference level of that attribute;

a mechanism for comparing the two levels and generating information about the ‘gap’ between the two levels;

a mechanism by which the information can be used to alter the gap.

To an engineer, information is therefore feedback only if the information fed back is actually used in reducing the gap between actual and desired states.

Relevant studies

Fuchs & Fuchs (1986)

Natriello (1987)

Crooks (1988)

Banger-Drowns, et al. (1991)

Kluger & DeNisi (1996)

Black & Wiliam (1998)

Nyquist (2003)

Dempster (1991, 1992)

Elshout-Mohr (1994)

Brookhart (2004)

Allal & Lopez (2005)

Köller (2005)

Brookhart (2007)

Wiliam (2007)

Hattie & Timperley (2007)

Shute (2008)

Feedback

Kinds of feedback in Higher Education (Nyquist, 2003)

Weaker feedback only

Knowledge of results (KoR)

Feedback only

KoR + clear goals or knowledge of correct results (KCR)

Weak formative assessment

KCR+ explanation (KCR+e)

Moderate formative assessment

(KCR+e) + specific actions for gap reduction

Strong formative assessment

(KCR+e) + activity

Effect of formative assessment (HE) *corrected values 0.56 16 Strong formative assessment 0.39 41 Moderate formative assessment 0.29 49 Weaker formative assessment 0.36 48 Feedback only 0.14 31 Weaker feedback only Effect* N

Formative assessment An assessment functions formatively to the extent that evidence about student achievement elicited by the assessment is interpreted and used to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions that would have been taken in the absence of that evidence. Formative assessment therefore involves the creation of, and capitalization upon, moments of contingency (short, medium and long cycle) in instruction with a view to regulating learning (proactive, interactive, and retroactive).

Some principles

A commitment to formative assessment

Does not entail any view of what is to be learned

Does not entail any view of what happens when learning takes place

Types of formative assessment

Long-cycle

Span: across units, terms

Length: four weeks to one year

Medium-cycle

Span: within and between teaching units

Length: one to four weeks

Short-cycle

Span: within and between lessons

Length:

day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours

minute-by-minute: 5 seconds to 2 hours

Unpacking formative assessment

Key processes

Establishing where the learners are in their learning

Establishing where they are going

Working out how to get there

Participants

Teachers

Peers

Learners

Aspects of formative assessment Activating students as owners of their own learning Understand learning intentions Learner Activating students as learning resources for one another Understand and share learning intentions Peer Providing feedback that moves learners forward Engineering effective discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Clarify and share learning intentions Teacher How to get there Where the learner is Where the learner is going

Five “key strategies”…