Previous Reference Desk Digests

• Phonics Instruction — July 23, 2010
• Single-Sex Education — July 16, 2010
• Teacher Candidates' Field Experiences — July 9, 2010
• Kindergarten Entry Age — July 2, 2010
• Equitable Distribution of Teachers — June 25, 2010
• Drug Abuse Prevention Programs — June 18, 2010
• Data Use by Teachers— June 11, 2010
• School Start Time — June 4, 2010
• Balance Balls and Student Attention — May 28, 2010
• Student Mentoring — May 21, 2010
• Alternative Schools — May 14, 2010
• Low-Performing Schools — May 7, 2010
• Extended Learning Time — April 30, 2010
• 21st Century Skills — April 23, 2010
• Dropout Prevention Legislation — April 16, 2010
• High-School Grade Configuration — April 9, 2010
• Middle-Grades Configuration — April 2, 2010
• Music and Infant Development — March 26, 2010
• Homework and Student Achievement — March 19, 2010
• Foreign Language Technology — March 12, 2010
• Standardized Testing — March 5, 2010
• Charter Schools — February 26, 2010
• PD for Principals — February 19, 2010
• Formative Assessment — February 12, 2010
• Limited English Proficiency — February 5, 2010
• Teacher Evaluation Models— January 29, 2010

The Reference Desk, using available evidence and research, provides quick-turnaround responses to questions submitted by education stakeholders around the Northeast and Islands Region. Every Friday, REL-NEI highlights one or two questions submitted to its Reference Desk.

Impact of Formative Assessment on Student Learning

Each month, the Reference Desk receives a variety of questions asking about research on effective practices in teaching and learning. This Digest has featured of number of topics related to instructional practice and academic supports for students, but this week’s entry is the first to address the effect of assessment practices on achievement. This week’ entry focuses specifically on how the use of formative assessments may impact student learning.

Question

What research exists showing the impact of the use of benchmark and formative assessments on student learning?

Research Synopsis

Reference Desk Researchers identified a number of resources which address the impact of benchmark and formative assessments on student achievement, but found that definitions of “formative assessment” were often unclear and inconsistent. In an effort to bring greater clarity to the topic, the national Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) convened 25 state leaders and formative assessment experts in 2006 to create the following consensus definition of formative assessment: “Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes” (McManus, 2008; p. 3; see below).

Publicly Available Resources

1. Attributes of Effective Formative Assessment. McManus, S.; 2008; Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers; State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards of the Council of Chief State School Officers; 6 pages.
   

   This report defines formative assessment and describes five attributes of effective practice in the following subsections:

   • “Learning Progressions: Learning progressions should clearly articulate the sub-goals of the ultimate learning goal.”
   • “Learning Goals and Criteria for Success: Learning goals and criteria for success should be clearly identified and communicated to students.”
   • “Descriptive Feedback: Students should be provided with evidence-based feedback that is linked to the intended instructional outcomes and criteria for success.”
   • “Self- and Peer-Assessment: Both self- and peer-assessment are important for providing students an opportunity to think meta-cognitively about their learning.”
   • “Collaboration: A classroom culture in which teachers and students are partners in learning should be established.”
2. Measuring How Benchmark Assessments Affect Student Achievement. Henderson, S., Petrosino, A., Guckenburg, S., & Hamilton, S.; 2007; Regional Education Laboratory Northeast and Islands at Education Development Center. Issues & Answers No. 39; 47 pages.
   

   According to the abstract: “This report examines a Massachusetts pilot program for quarterly benchmark exams in middle-school mathematics, finding that program schools do not show greater gains in student achievement after a year. But that finding might reflect limited data rather than ineffective benchmark assessments.”  A Second Follow-Up Year for Measuring How Benchmark Assessments Affect Student Achievement was conducted, and according to the REL Technical Brief from April 2008: “the study found no significant differences between schools using this practice and those not doing so after two years.”

3. Some Aspects of the Technical Quality of Formative Assessments in Middle School Mathematics. Phelan, J. Kang, T., Niemi, D. N., Vendlinski, T. & Choi, K.; 2009; National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST); CRESST Report 750.
   

   From the abstract: “Results of this study suggest that relatively brief formative assessments focused on key conceptual domains can provide reliable and useful information on students’ levels of understanding and possible misunderstandings in the domain.”

The Reference Desk also found these resources and organizations to be helpful in learning more about formative assessment in general :

1. Improving Formative Assessment Practice with Educational Information Technology.

   Vendlinski, T. P., Niemi, D., Wang, J. & Monempour, S.; 2008;  National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST); CRESST Report 739.
   From the abstract: “This report describes a web-based assessment design tool, the Assessment Design and Delivery System (ADDS), that provides teachers both a structure and the resources required to develop and use quality assessments. The tool is applicable across subject domains …Initial results from our first teacher study suggest that teachers who used the tool developed assessments that were more cognitively demanding of students and addressed the “big ideas” rather than disassociated facts of a domain.”

2. Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center (AACC): Data Use and Formative Assessment
   

   According to the website, “AACC is part of a federal technical assistance system that provides resources for states to help them to fully implement, evaluate, and improve their assessment and accountability systems in order to reach the overarching No Child Left Behind goal of academic proficiency for all students.”

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