Diagnostic Assessment in Literature, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Formative assessment is a process that is used by students and teachers during instruction. It provides feed back that help in adjusting to the ongoing learning and teaching for improvement of students’ achievement of the intended outcome from the instructions. The main purpose of formative assessment is providing feedback to students and teachers during the learning process about the gap between the desired and the current performance of the students in order to formulate an effective action of closing the gap. In order to do this effectively, the teachers need to consider a continuum of the development of learning in any specific learning domain to enable them to properly allocate students’ present learning status and make a decision on the pedagogical action that should be taken to move the learning process of the students forward. In this paper, we shall discuss in depth the five elements of formative assessment which includes; learning progression, Learning Goals and Criteria for Success, descriptive feed back, self and peer assessment and finally collaboration.

Learning progressions

Learning progressions help in clearly articulating the sub goals of the ultimate learning goal. Stevens et al (2007) describes learning progression as the descriptions of the process of students gaining more expertise within a specific discipline over a given period of time. “Learning progressions represent how both understanding and knowledge develops as well as predicting how knowledge develops or builds over time.

Learning progressions which clearly articulates a learning progression in a particular domain can be used for providing a larger picture of what is to learned, supporting instructional planning as well as acting as a touchstone for formative assessment (Bell & Cowie, 2001).

Usage of learning progression

A well designed learning progression offers various opportunities for teachers’ instruction planning. To assists the teachers in focusing on the learning goals that are important in the domain, focusing their attention on what the student should learn instead of what the students should do. In planning instructions, identification of the learning goal is done first then the sequence of experiences or activities that are to be used by the teacher for enabling the students in meeting their goals is connected to the goal.

A learning progression also helps the teacher to see the connections between what comes after and before learning, in both the long and the short term. A recent study by Harlen, (1999) has described the importance of teacher’s clarity regarding what comes after or before a particular learning goal.

In a study to determine the mathematical knowledge of a teacher, 130 sixth grade mathematics teachers were reviewing the student’s responses to the assessment of their core principals underlying the mysteries in algebra one understanding. The teachers could more often identify the main principal that was addressed by the assessment and in a large part they could appropriate inferences on what the students understand and what they did not about the principal. Nevertheless, they had noticeable difficulty in the determination of what they would do next according to the instructions, as well as the feed back they would issue to the students for moving their learning forward.

A learning progression through the provision of of a learning sequence that undergirds instructions could help in this situation. E.g. the NCTM 2007 focal points. Theses are core mathematical ideas descriptions that need to be learned by students at each grade level. Development of a learning progression for these ideas is possible. For example In the algebra case, among the grade 6 core ideas includes;

• Solving simple one step equations by use of properties of operations, number sense and the ideas of quality mainatainace on both sides of the equations.

This idea can be extended into grade 7 as:

• Understanding that through the use of properties of equality for expressing an equation in a new way, the solution that are obtained for the newer equation can be used for solving the original equation.

This idea has also qualifications in the previous grades, E.g.

• Use relations, models and patterns as contexts for solving and writing simple inequalities as equations (Grade 5).
• Identification, description and extension of numeric patterns that involve all operations and non numeric repeating or growing patterns (Grade 4)
• Using the properties of multiplication and addition for multiplying the whole numbers then apply strategies which are increasingly sophisticated based on these properties for solving multiplication and division problems that involve the basic facts (Grade 3).

Through putting this ideas into use, a teacher of the sixth grade who had students having problems in solving simple one step inequalities by using operation properties can decide to focus on development of a better understanding of the properties, for example that, that subtraction undoes addition and multiplication is undone by division.

All the same, for maximum use of formative and instruction assessment, these ideas have to be fleshed out. Using them in their current form provides the teacher in the mathematical knowledge study that is described earlier with a clear point of view of the constituents in one algebraic aspect. But to be able to determine on what feedback he should give the students, more connection and detail among the ideas is very necessary. NCTM gives specifications that the focal point must be use as a planning framework. With ideas being the backbone of for a progression that is more detailed, school teachers should be able to poll expertise for figuring out the parts that interlock between core ideas and to describe what is involved in understanding and usage of the properties of solving of equations the students need to learn. This process can facilitate improvements of teachers’ knowledge to formative assessment and instruction. It can help the teachers in acquiring sufficient knowledge of pulling the short term goals for formative assessment chunks of instruction that are manageable, while at the same time ability of locating the purpose of any lesson in a flight of instructions that wires learning of students overtime (Leakey, 2001).

Learning Goals and Criteria for Success

These are critical pieces of information needed by students to make them successful learners. Teachers and students must have a common understanding of the things to be learned and create an idea of how a successful achievement looks. With explicit criteria and goals, the students have a beginning of what they require in order to become self monitoring independent learners.

Due to the fact that formative assessment is the process of helping students to achieve the intended learning outcome on the basis of explicit learning progression, the teachers should identify first and then communicate to the students the instructional goal. Teachers should provide the criteria of assessing learning to enable the students to determine whether or not they are progressing successfully towards the goal. Communication of this information should be through use of a language that the students can easily understand.

There are several ways that teachers can use in the process of clarification and sharing the learning goals and criteria for success to the students. Many teachers prefer specifying the learning goals of each lesson at the begging of the lesson. In doing so, many of them are unable to have a distinction between the learning goals and the required activities necessary to learning. When teachers starts with what they intend to teach the students and then design their instructions from that goal backwards, effectiveness of the instructions becomes unlikely (McNair, 2004). McNair advocates a two stage process of clarifying the learning the learning goals first, followed by establishment of success criteria. Later, the students should also be able to know.

The necessary improvement conditions are that the students comes to acquire a concept of quality that is similar to that of the teacher, is constantly able to screen the quality of what is being produced during the production art and has a collection of alternative strategies from which he can at any specific point.

To illustrate this in an example, when writing 6 ½ , the mathematical operation which is between 6 and ½ is in the actual sense additional, but in writing 6x, the operation that is implied between 6 and x is multiplication, hence the relation between 6 and 1 in 61 is again different. Yet, very few people who are qualified mathematicians are aware with the mathematical notation differences. In reality, being successful in math’s requires the knowledge of what to consider and what not to. The students who don’t understand what is important and what is not are usually in big disadvantage.

In a study in a eleventh grade classroom, Black & Wiliam, (1998) found that by giving the students some time to discuss about what would be considered as quality work, as well as how evaluation of their work would be done, it reduced the gap of achievement between the lowest and the highest achieving student and at the same time increased the class average performance to an extent that the weaker students in the group were doing better than the stronger students of the experimental group.

This proves that using various examples of the work of the students from different classes can be effective in helping students to understand what count as quality work. A significant number of teachers have discovered that students are better at spotting the mistakes in the work of others than in their own. By providing students with examples of work at different levels, the students can gradually begging to explore the difference between inferior and superior work, and the whole class can discuss this emerging understanding. This process will result to students developing a urge of quality which they can apply in monitoring quality of individual work. Black, (1998).

Learning Goals and Criteria for Success can be applied at all grades of students learning.

Descriptive Feedback

This is information that is linked to success criteria teachers and students share during the learning process to enable the students to close the gap the current levels of their performance and the goals of learning.

In a classroom, the students should be provided feed back that is based on evidence linked to the instructional outcome that is intended and success criteria. Descriptive feedback should involve specific qualities of students learning together with suggestions and discussions about what can be done by the student to make an improvement. It should not involve pupil’s comparison. Specific feed back should base upon the criteria for success and the learning goal. It should assist the student in answering the basic questions: (1) where am I going, (2) where am I now and (3) how can I close this gap.

To site an example, an 8^th grade writing class, students are learning about argument construction. Specifically they focus of speech writing and have already examined various speeches that are effective, from prominent history speech makers from the previous year’s 8^th grade students. In this lesson the students were asked to write an opening statement of their speech based on the success criteria of topic introduction that will engage the audience. The teacher gives one student a feed back, “the audience attention was not captured by your opening paragraph due to the fact that it does not state what the speech regard to. Al the same, the 2^nd sentence’ opening paragraph states your position effectively. What can you do to strengthen and improve your opening statement?” through using this type of collaboration and descriptive feedback, the teacher is able to clarify the goal, give specific info on where the student is almost meeting the criteria and finally gives enough substantive purpose for allowing the student an opportunity for identifying the ways to continue moving the learning.

In a similar case, 6th grade students in a math class and working in groups were asked to review the steps taken to solve a problem by a student from the earlier class. They have to decide if the work is incorrect or correct as well as give an explanation for their views. The teacher gives them this criterion of success, “include any rules or properties that could apply in your explanations”. When the team went back from the discussions, the teacher listened for the properties or rules in the given explanations which became the feedback focus. She said to one group, “your explanations show me that you have a clear understanding that the method that was used by that student for solving the problem was not correct. You should remember the success criteria and also must relate your explanations to one property among those that ewe have already discussed in class in order for indication of the reason why the steps which were followed were incorrect”. In this example again the students are able to know the goal, whereby their response was different from the criteria, as well as how be able to improve their explanation (Leakey, 2001).

Descriptive feedback can be applied in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

Self- and Peer-Assessment

Self and peer assessment can carried out by use of summative and formative techniques. Activities of summative assessment are used to sum up or judge achievement. These activities can be used for improving the practices and performance of the students. They encompass all the activities that are undertaken by students or teachers for providing feedback that that is used for modification of learning and teaching practices. The reflection of such feed back in necessary because it enables students and teachers to identify their weaknesses and strengths necessary for considering whether changes are needed, Deville, et al., (2002).

For better illustration of this type of formative assessment, it is important to consider and remember that both self and peer assessment enables the students to learn while judging the work of other and their own work as well. It is based on the NCTM standards and principals and at the same time requires the students to think individually about mathematics as well as in groups.

As individuals, the students are asked to read articles from content based journals as well as other writings about math. Based on some specific parts of mathematics that they had covered in their reading, they were able to make oral presentations. The students are then paired into groups of two and instructed to critique the presentation of their partners

Although the paired students are mostly focused on the preparation of individual preparations and believe that they are evaluating the presentation of the other students, the main objective is to assess whether or not they have initialized the most essential message that is intended for them to draw from this course which is that thorough mathematical content understanding is the back bone of good pedagogy.

In self assessment, the student monitors and reflects their learning by use of clearly explicated criteria for success. In peer assessment, the students analyses the work of each other by use of rubrics or guidelines as well as provides a descriptive feed back that facilitate continued improvement. E.g. students can work in pairs in order to review the work of each other and give a comprehensive feedback. What a teacher needs is to model a good feedback with the students and discussed with them about the unacceptable and acceptable comments and how they look like for creation of a safe environment for learning.

A rubric can be used by students for providing feedback to the peer by articulating the reason as to why a particular work is at a certain level as well as discussing the methods of improving it to the next higher level. An alternative method of giving feed back is by using a format like “two stars a wish” which provides the students with a structure for identification of two particularly strong aspects of work (star) as well as one aspect the peer might wish to improve (a wish). After this, the students require time to mirror on the feed back that they have received in order to make the relevant improvements or changes. In addition to this, the students can as well be encouraged to become self reflective by paying more attention to their own work on the basis of what they have leant from giving others a feed back. Another advantage of providing a peer with feedback is that it deepens individual, learning of the student. All the same, in a formal grading process, the student and peer assessment should not be applied (Deville, & Bouter, et al., (2002).

Collaboration

This is a culture that should be established in a classroom where the students and the teachers are learning partners. It involves sharing of criteria for success and learning goals with students, giving support to students as they take responsibility and monitor their own learning, assisting the students to provide beneficial feedback to one another as well as involving the students in making of decisions on how to move the learning process forward are descriptions of teachers and students working together in the learning and teaching process.

All the same, for students to be successfully and actively involved in their own process of learning, they have to feel that they are legitimate partners in the process. This feeling depends upon the classroom culture that is characterized by trust among and between teachers and their students. By norms of transparency, respect and appreciation of each others differences and an environment that is none threatening. Creation of this kind of a culture requires the teachers to be actively involved in modeling these behaviors during their interactions with the students, to facilitate active teaching of the classroom norms and for building the skills of the students in collaborators with peers and teachers in the process of learning.

This type of formative assessment is effective applicable at all the levels of learning.

While there is evidence that exists in an anecdotal degree for supporting the five attributes that have been presented, there is no best and clear way of carrying out formative assessment. The methods of implementing these attributes depend upon the individual teacher, a particular instruction context and most importantly, the individual student (McNair, 2004).

References

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