2011 TESOL Presentation by Lorraine V. Pierce & Rachel Grant titled GUIDING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT OF READING COMPREHENSION.

1. GUIDING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
OF READING COMPREHENSION
Lorraine Valdez Pierce & Rachel Grant
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA USA
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TESOL New Orleans 2011

2. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT-PREMISE
 INFORMATION DERIVED FROM STUDENTS’
ASSESSMENT PERFORMANCE CAN BE USED
TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
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3. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
 Definition
 Process of gathering information used by teachers and
students to determine what is needed to adjust teaching
and learning while they are happening
 Informs both students and teachers about student
understanding at a point when timely adjustments
can be made
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4. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
 Allows adjustments that help ensure students
achieve targeted standards-based learning goals
within a set time frame
 Complements diagnostic teaching
 Is a “verb”, not a “noun”
 Is a process
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5. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
 Role of teachers
 Teachers are critical to
 Identifying learning goals
 Setting clear criteria for success
 Designing assessment tasks that provide evidence of student
learning
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6. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT- TOOLS
 Instructional strategies/tools to support formative
assessment
 Criteria and goal setting
 Observations
 Questioning strategies
 Self- and peer assessment
 Student record keeping
 Teacher Observation Checklists
 Teacher Rating Scales
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7. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT-
SELF- ASSESSMENT
 Enhances student role in assessment
 Key questions for students
 Where am I now?
 Where am I going?
 How can I get there?
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8. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT & FEEDBACK
 Close overlap between formative assessment and
feedback
 Feedback is more likely to lead to improved student
learning if it is:
 Directed toward successful completion of learning task
 Accompanied with clear guidance about how to improve
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9. STUDENTS & FEEDBACK
 Feedback must be linked to specific task and
explicit about how to improve
 Requires thinking and “mindfulness” on the part of
students
 Must do more than merely correct errors
 Culture makes a difference in how students
interpret and respond to various assessment
practices
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10. OVER-RELIANCE
ON A SINGLE TYPE OF TEST
 Multiple-Choice Tests
 Short Answer Tests
 Essay Tests
 End-of-Unit Tests
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11. LIMITATIONS OF
MULTIPLE-CHOICE TESTS
 Always a test of LANGUAGE
 Reading & Vocabulary
 Complex Language of Content Areas
 Specific format
 Only one right answer
 Tend to assess only Declarative Knowledge
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12. LIMITATIONS OF USING
SCORING RUBRICS
 Holistic Rubrics – too general, not classroom
specific, used for identification & program
placement
 Analytic Rubrics – for complex, multi-part tasks,
such as posters, oral presentations, and research
projects
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13. ADVANTAGES OF USING
CHECKLISTS & RATING SCALES
 Can show student’s thinking processes & strategies
 Can show continuous progress over time
 Can make teacher expectations clear to both teacher
and student
 Can be adapted for any grade, content, and proficiency
level by the teacher
 Easy to prepare & use
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14. CHECKLISTS
FOR READING COMPREHENSION
Can show
presence or absence
of a reading skill or behavior
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15. RATING SCALES
FOR READING COMPREHENSION
Can show a
range of performance
along a scale
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16. RECENT RESEARCH
ON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
 Black & Wiliam (1998)
 Found FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT to have
remarkable impact on achievement
 Found SELF-ASSESSMENT critical to learning
 Can reduce Achievement Gaps
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