2. This chapter deals with designing and conducting formative
evaluations. According to the reading, formative evaluation is the
collection of data and information during the development of
instruction that can be used to improve the effectiveness and efficiency
of the instruction. In essence, ID using formative evaluation would be
able to find out how to make instruction more:
Effective
Efficient
Interesting/Motivating
Usable
Acceptable
3.
4. Dick and Carey focus on three phases of formative evaluation.
However, Tessmer identifies four distinct phases:
Expert Review-Experts review a rough version of the instruction
with or without the evaluator present to determine its strengths
and weaknesses. They can be content experts, technical experts,
designers, or instructors.
5. One-to-One-One learner at a time reviews the instruction with
the evaluator. The evaluator observes the learner using the
instruction, notes the learner's comments, and questions the
learner during and after the instruction.
Small Group-The evaluator tries out the unfinished instruction
with a group of learners and records their performance and
comments.
Field Test-The evaluator observes the instruction being tried out
in a realistic environment with a group of learners.
Generally, these four phases are carried out in order, although Expert
Review and One-to-One are often carried out at the same time. Based
on the data you collect in each stage of the evaluation, decisions should
be made regarding how you will revise the instruction.
A formative evaluation (sometimes referred to as internal) is a method
for judging the worth of a program while the program activities are
forming (in progress). They can be conducted during any phase of the
ADDIE process. This part of the evaluation focuses on the process.
Thus, formative evaluations are basically done on the fly. They permit
the designers, learners, instructors, and managers to monitor how well
the instructional goals and objectives are being met. Its main purpose is
to catch deficiencies ASAP so that the proper learning interventions can
take place that allows the learners to master the required skills and
knowledge.
"Formative evaluation is also useful in analyzing learning materials,
6. student learning and achievements, and teacher effectiveness . . .
Formative evaluation is primarily a building process which accumulates
a series of components of new materials, skills, and problems into an
ultimate meaningful whole." - Wally Guyot (1978)
The advantages of one-to-one are its interactive and highly productive,
easy, quick and inexpensive, its sources of revision information, the
clearness of instruction and direction, the completeness of the
instruction, and the adequate quality of the materials.
Small group evaluation evaluates the effectiveness, appeal and
implementability of the approach. It also gives the study many
advantages such as inexpensive, easy to conduct, more accurate
measures of teachers’ performance, and more improvement in the
instruction prototype.
Field test evaluation is conducted to describe the teacher acceptance,
implementability, and organizational acceptance of the prototype
approach. It can be used to confirm the revisions made in previous
formative evaluations, to generate final revision suggestions, and to
investigate the effectiveness of the prototype instruction and also to
gain the polished version of the products and programs.
REFLECTION
I think of formative evaluation as a way yo improve my
instruction. How else do I improve if not with the help of
evaluation? Overall, I think formative assessments help us
7. differentiate instruction and thus improve student achievement. When
I work with teachers during staff development, they often tell me they
don't have time to assess students along the way. They fear sacrificing
coverage and insist they must move on quickly. Yet in the rush to cover
more, students are actually learning less. Without time to reflect on
and interact meaningfully with new information, students are unlikely
to retain much of what is "covered" in their classrooms.
In my opinion, formative assessments, however, do not have to take an
inordinate amount of time. While a few types (such as extended
responses or essays) take considerably more time than others, many
are quick and easy to use on a daily basis. On balance, the time they
take from a lesson is well worth the information you gather and the
retention students gain.
In sum, I think formative evaluation encourage an ongoing
communication between faculty and student(s) that can move students
toward expert self-monitoring of their work and intellectual
persistence, I think formative evaluation techniques provide
appropriate learning objectives. It encourages students to learn from
mistakes and is not linked to grading practice. And in a way, it helps
faculty encourage a mastery of the goals and objectives of the class. In
addition, it helps faculty provide models and instruction to help
students connect formative feedback with meta-cognitive practice.
8. EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE
This article is excerpted from 25 Quick Formative Assessments for a
Differentiated Classroom by Judith Dodge.
Types of Assessment StrategiesThere are variety of quick ways for you
to check for understanding and gather "evidence" of learning in your
classroom.
Summaries and Reflections Students stop and reflect, make sense
of what they have heard or read, derive personal meaning from
their learning experiences, and/or increase their metacognitive
skills. These require that students use content-specific language.
Lists, Charts, and Graphic Organizers Students will organize
information, make connections, and note relationships through
the use of various graphic organizers.
Visual Representations of Information Students will use both
words and pictures to make connections and increase memory,
facilitating retrieval of information later on. This "dual coding"
helps teachers address classroom diversity, preferences in
learning style, and different ways of "knowing."
Collaborative Activities Students have the opportunity to move
and/or communicate with others as they develop and
demonstrate their understanding of concepts.
Keeping Track of the Data
9. When you use formative assessments, you must keep track of the data
that you collect. The easiest way to observe and assess student growth
is to walk around your room with a clipboard and sticky notes. As you
notice acquisition of a new skill or confusion and struggle with a skill,
record the student's name and jot down a brief comment. Consider
keeping a folder for each child in which you insert any notes that you
make on a daily basis. This process will help you focus on the needs of
individual students when you confer with each child or develop lessons
for your whole class.
Differentiating Instruction in Response to Formative Assessments
Thomas R. Guskey suggests that for assessments to become an integral
part of the instructional process, teachers need to change their
approach in three important ways. They must "1) use assessments as
sources of information for both students and teachers, 2) follow
assessments with high-quality corrective instruction, and 3) give
students second chances to demonstrate success" (2007).
Once you have assessed your learners, you must take action. You will
be able to help your students achieve success by differentiating your
instruction based on the information you have gathered. Ask yourself,
"Who needs my attention now? Which students need a different
approach? Which students are not learning anything new, because I
haven't challenged them?"
"Tiering" your activities for two or three levels of learners is usually
what is called for after a review of assessment data. We must be
prepared to provide both corrective activities and enrichment activities
10. for those who need them. An important caveat to keep in mind,
however, is that the follow-up, corrective instruction designed to help
students must present concepts in new ways and engage students in
different learning experiences that are more appropriate for them
(Guskey, 2007/2008). Your challenge will be to find a new and different
pathway to understanding. The best corrective activities involve a
change in format, organization, or method of presentation (Guskey,
2007/2008).
After using any of the formative assessments contained in this book,
you can choose from among these suggestions to scaffold your
struggling learners or challenge your advanced learners. The
suggestions for struggling learners will help students during their
"second-chance" learning on the road toward mastery. The suggestions
for advanced learners will challenge those students who, in my opinion,
are frequently forgotten in mixed-ability classrooms. With these easy
adjustments to your lesson plans, you will be able to respond to the
diverse readiness needs of students in your heterogeneous classroom.
Gathering Multiple Sources of Evidence
In differentiated classrooms everywhere, a resounding mantra is "Fair is
not equal; fair is getting what you need." Assessments enable us to
determine what students need. But for our assessments to be accurate,
we need multiple measures of student understanding. We need
evidence gathered over time in different ways to evaluate how
11. effective the teaching and learning process has been. Tomlinson and
McTighe (2006) suggest that when we gather a "photo album" rather
than a "snapshot" of our students, we can differentiate instruction
based on a more accurate evaluation of our students' learning needs.
Response to Intervention (RTI)
With the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA, 2004) under No Child Left Behind, schools are searching for
ways to implement the newly required Response to Intervention (RTI)
model. This new way of delivering intervention to struggling students
encompasses a three-tiered model.
