Formative e-assessment: some theoretical resources

Dylan Wiliam

www.dylanwiliam.net

A brief history of formative assessmentA kind of assessmentAny assessment taken before the last one

A purpose for assessing“Assessment for learning”

A function that the assessment outcomes serve

Feedback metaphorFeedback in engineering Positive feedback

Leads to explosive increase or collapse (bad!) Negative feedback

Leads to asymptotic convergence to, or damped oscillation about, a stable equilibrium

Components of a feedback system data on the actual level of some measurable attribute; data on the reference level of that attribute; a mechanism for comparing the two levels and generating information about the ‘gap’

between the two levels; a mechanism by which the information can be used to alter the gap.To an engineer, information is therefore feedback only if the information fed back is actually used in reducing the gap between actual and desired states.

Relevant studiesFuchs & Fuchs (1986)

Natriello (1987)

Crooks (1988)

Kluger & DeNisi (1996)

Black & Wiliam (1998)

Nyquist (2003)

Formative assessment

An assessment functions formatively when evidence about student achievement elicited by the assessment is interpreted and used to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions that would have been made in the absence of that evidence.

Formative assessment therefore involves the creation of, and capitalization upon, moments of contingency (short, medium and long cycle) in instruction with a view to regulating learning (proactive, interactive, and retroactive).

Some principlesA commitment to formative assessmentDoes not entail any view of what is to be learnedDoes not entail any view of what happens when learning takes place

Types of formative assessmentLong-cycle

Span: across units, terms Length: four weeks to one year

Medium-cycle Span: within and between teaching units Length: one to four weeks

Short-cycle Span: within and between lessons Length:

day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours minute-by-minute: 5 seconds to 2 hours

Unpacking formative assessmentKey processesEstablishing where the learners are in their learningEstablishing where they are goingWorking out how to get there

ParticipantsTeachersPeersLearners

Where the learner is going

Where the learner is How to get there

TeacherClarify and share

learning intentions

Engineering effective discussions, tasks and

activities that elicit evidence of learning

Providing feedback that moves learners

forward

PeerUnderstand and share learning

intentions

Activating students as learningresources for one another

LearnerUnderstand learning

intentionsActivating students as owners

of their own learning

Aspects of formative assessment

Five “key strategies”…Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions

curriculum philosophy (goals and horizons)

Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning classroom discourse, interactive whole-class teaching

Providing feedback that moves learners forward feedback

Activating students as learning resources for one another collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching, peer-assessment

Activating students as owners of their own learning metacognition, motivation, interest, attribution, self-assessment

(Wiliam & Thompson, 2007)

…and one big ideaUse evidence about the outcomes of instruction to meet student needs

The learning milieuFeedback must cause a cognitive engagement in learningMastery orientation vs. performance orientation (Dweck)Growth pathway vs. well-being pathway (Boekaerts)