New Frontiers in Formative Assessment

“Formative assessment is a powerful learning tool that is too seldom, too haphazardly, and too ineffectively used in the United States,” Pendred E. Noyce writes in the introduction to this volume. “The purpose of this book is to delve into why this is so and how it can be changed.”

Formative assessment involves constantly monitoring student understanding through a combination of formal and informal measures. Teachers ask searching questions, listen over the shoulders of students working together on a problem, help students assess their own work, and carefully uncover students’ thinking. They react to what they learn by adjusting their teaching, thereby leading students to greater understanding.

This ongoing analysis and customization isn’t so easy to do. In the press of accountability, teachers often lack the time and confidence to adjust their lessons on a daily basis. They may lack the depth of content knowledge needed to analyze student misconceptions or see at what branch of reasoning the student went wrong. They may face constraints that make it difficult for them to work together on common problems.

New Frontiers in Formative Assessment is for educators who want to tap into the power of formative assessment. It showcases ongoing work that pushes the field of formative assessment forward in key ways. Drawn from a variety of classrooms in terms of age level, subject area, and use of technology, the chapters in this book highlight the importance of context in developing effective formative assessment practices. At the same time, the volume addresses the common elements of a successful formative assessment project–notably, high interest, manageability, impact, and validity–as well as some common barriers to implementation. Taken together, these projects illustrate the journey from assessment of learning to assessment for learning–and ultimately toward assessment as learning.”