Make It Count: Providing Feedback as Formative Assessment
I discovered a post on Edutopia today that I absolutely had to share within the principalaim community. How many times have you had to defend the merits of “good” assessments? While I think the conversation about good assessment is important, I would like to change it so that we spend more time discussing the positive (and differentiated) ways that we provide feedback as a form of formative assessment.
For educators out there what I am about to say is not intended for you … all assessment is good assessment in helping to personalize the learning experience for students. I believe assessment helps inform how, what, and when we teach content within the curriculum. Furthermore, good assessment is always “relevant and action-oriented.” Here is the really good news about assessment … “students want feedback just for them, just in time, and in just the right format to help nudge them forward in their learning.” Therefore, I strongly encourage educators to “worry about how students receive your feedback instead of the amount of feedback you give.” Troy Hicks (blogger for Edutopia) has looked closely at some of the best practices around formative assessment particularly as it pertains to teacher directed feedback as a primary form of assessment. To learn more, check out his blog post here. tlb
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