Common Core and the Promise of Formative Assessment

The value of formative assessment has been recognized by the consortiums designing the Common Core. The problem is that in their vision students will take formative tests between the scheduled summative assessments. After decades of research on formative assessment and abundance of definitions, this approach is arguably not formative assessment. Definitions of formative assessment include the words on-going process, embedded, feedback loop, student engaged, and responsive.  

Don’t be fooled. There is no such thing as a formative test! You can’t give a test on a moment’s notice when it becomes apparent that the meaning of .053 or the global changes that occurred as a result of 9/11 are not fully clear to students. At that very moment, formative strategies such as signaling or feathers and salt can illuminate points of confusion. This is far more effective than waiting for the formative interim “test” in four weeks.

We must not miss the opportunity that minute by minute formative assessments, from the start of a lesson to its conclusion, can provide.  Improvement comes when students understand expectations, receive immediate feedback, get advice on next steps, and take responsibility for learning. Don’t be misled into thinking that a one-shot measure can supply the same insights as an ongoing process of gathering evidence and responding meaningfully.