Embed minute-by-minute, day-by-day classroom formative assessment.
Effective classroom formative assessment helps educators make minute-by-minute, day-by-day instructional decisions, but putting it into practice requires both a robust collection of techniques and an understanding of how to use them. In Embedding Formative Assessment, authors Dylan Wiliam and Siobhán Leahy deliver a clear, practical guide for teachers, centered on the five key strategies for improving teacher practice and student achievement:
1) Clarifying, sharing, and understanding learning intentions and success criteria
2) Engineering productive discussion and activities that elicit evidence of learning
3) Providing feedback that moves learners forward
4) Activating students as learning resources for each other
5) Activating students as owners of their own learning
Then, for each strategy, the authors provide an overview of the strategy and a number of very practical formative assessment techniques for implementing it in K–12 classrooms. Along with guidance on when and how to use the specific techniques, they provide tips, cautions, and enhancements to sustain formative assessment. A student reflection form, peer observation form, and self-reflection checklist accompany each strategy.
No known practice is more effective than classroom formative assessment for producing a significant positive impact on student achievement. Wiliam and Leahy provide the necessary tips and techniques to put it into practice immediately.
