Final Paper: The Importance of Formative Assessment

James Jazo
National-Louis University - National College of Education

Knowledge Gained from Formative Assessments

Teachers use a variety of formative assessments to monitor the progress of their students.
Formative assessments usually inform instruction between summative assessments. Teachers use data
from formative assessments to plan for small group instruction as well as whole group instruction. I
administer exit slips after each lesson with fidelity. I typically create the exit slips I administer to my
students and I make sure the exit slips are always directly linked to the objectives of lessons. I
constantly assess my students as they work by making observations and taking notes. Observations
allow me to make crucial decisions regarding instruction in the moment. If I observe my students
struggling to grasp a concept or complete an assignment, then I revisit what they are working on at
that moment to alleviate confusion or misunderstandings.
Exit slips and observations have strengths and weaknesses, but using them together provides
teachers with urgent information regarding their students learning. Exit slips are useful formative
assessments because they allow students to demonstrate their mastery of an objective after a lesson or
activity. Every teacher uses exit slips to some degree, but exit slips vary greatly by their quality and
content. Some exit slips are not extensive enough to show the true extent of a students mastery. If
there are only two questions on an exit slip and both questions assess a different skill, then the teacher
who created the exit slip might having a difficult time knowing how well a student has mastered each
skill. An exit slip with few items is not as informative as an assessment that features several items
related to a lessons objective.
Skills assessed by exit slips should be directly related to skills being assessed by interim and
summative assessments. Teachers use interim assessments throughout the year to gauge student
progress toward mastery of the skills measured by a summative assessment. They also assess targeted
concepts at strategic points during the school year. It is important that a teacher keeps this in mind

when they are creating exit slips because an exit slip fails to guide instruction when it becomes
unrelated to academic goals established by interim and summative assessments.
Consequential validity is any intended or unintended consequence of administering an
assessment. Exit slips are intended to inform teachers of their instructional practices, inform teachers
of their students progress, and inform students of their progress regarding the skills being assessed.
Some unintended consequences of using exit slips might include narrowing instruction to focus only
on specific learning outcomes, using materials that are not closely linked to interim or summative
assessments, and unintentionally reteaching skills that have already been mastered based on
ineffective exit slips. The unintended consequences could be avoided if exit slips are constructed
carefully. If teachers take all potential learning outcomes into account, then exit slips will be more
meaningful.
Knowledge Gained from Data Representations and Workshops
I have included three data representations that show the results of three different addition exit
slips. Each exit slip features six items that were directly related to the objectives of the math lesson. I
made sure to feature six items in order to provide myself a clear view of my students understanding
of the content presented during the lesson. The exit slips were similar in their content, but they
became progressively more difficult to match the progression of the students. The first exit slip
featured addition problems with two digit numbers. The second exit slip featured addition problems
with three digit numbers. The third exit slip featured addition problems with four digit numbers. The
progression required students to do more work, but the skills being assessed remained the same.
Students learned about place value as well as regrouping digits throughout the week as the exit slips
were administered.

I saw growth from every student over the course of three days. It is clear that there are some
students who have not mastered addition with and without regrouping, but those students are still
growing. There are many students who mastered addition with and without regrouping over this three
day period. Twelve students scored a 50% or less during the first assessment. Only one student scored
50% or less by the third assessment. The third assessment shows exceptional growth. There were no
students who scored 100% during the first assessment. Nine students scored 100% by the end of the
third assessment. No students regressed during this three day addition assessment window and this
shows progress.

The graph above shows the progress of an individual student. The graph tracks the students
progress over three days. An exit slip was used to assess the student after each math lesson. The
student scored 50% the first day. This score shows me that the student did not master the skill. The
student scored 65% the second day. This score shows progress, but the student did not master the skill
at this point. The student scored 100% the third day. This score shows me that the student mastered
the skill and he was ready to move on to more difficult concepts.
My colleagues helped me look at my data in different ways that I did not consider prior to the
data workshops. We mainly looked at the consequential validity of our exit slips. A small error on an
exit slip could skew data and make it unclear if students mastered a specific skill. I learned that the
format of an assessment could affect its validity. Students who are not familiar with an assessment

format might struggle to answer questions even if they understand the skills that are being assessed.
The data workshops helped me realize what I might need in order to explain my data better. Bringing
students work helped us clarify misconceptions and analyze patterns of student error. It is also
important to bring multiple data representations. Some data representations are better than others
depending on what aspect of the data is being analyzed. A line graph would best show assessment data
over time and a bar graph would be best to compare a data set.
Knowledge Synthesis
Every student learns differently and at a unique pace. Students come from different
backgrounds and some students come to school having mastered more skills than their peers. I have
learned that it is important to focus on the progression of each student when evaluating each students
academic performance. Teachers use data from assessments as a guide for instruction (BambrickSantoyo, 2010). The progression my students is monitored by a wealth of data. This data comes from
formative assessments, interim assessments, and summative assessments. Assessments are not the end
of the teaching and learning process because they provide teachers with useful information should
guide future practices (Bambrick-Santoyo, 2010). Data from formative assessments informs my
instruction on a daily basis. I am able to see the progression of my students every day through close
observation and data from exit slips. Seeing progression or lack of progression today tells me what I
need to do tomorrow in order to meet the academic needs of my students.
Implications for Formative Assessment
There are two main questions that I have regarding the learning progression of my students.
How can I make sure the unintended consequences of my exit slips do not hinder the intended
consequences of my exit slips? Unintended consequences of my exit slips might skew data in a way
that makes the learning progress of my students unclear. How can I make sure the exit slips I develop
are measuring the learning progression of my students? There should be guidelines for creating

effective exit slips. I would imagine some of these guidelines might include having an appropriate
number of items featured on an exit slip, making sure items are directly related to the objectives of
lessons, and making sure exit slips are aligned with other valid assessments used to assess the learning
progression of students. Making quality exit slips that are aligned with standards assessed by interim
and summative assessments ensures that teachers are able to take corrective action based on the
performance of their students.
Assessment is always happening in classrooms. Most of the assessment that goes on in
classrooms is formative and formative assessment is just as important as interim and summative
assessments. Formative assessments provide teachers with data that allows them to see where their
students are academically and where they need to go. Teachers are constantly making decisions about
their formative assessment in order to meet the academic needs of their students. Formative
assessments might happen when teachers are having conversations with their students about a specific
topic. A teacher might want know about a students background knowledge regarding a specific
subject and sometimes a conversation is the best way to gather data about a students background
knowledge. Other formative assessments include observations and exit slips. Observations allow
teachers to identify the behaviors of students, document performance, and make instructional
decisions based on what is happening in a class. Exit slips provide teachers with data about skills
being assessed at the end of a lesson or activity. This course has helped me understand the importance
of examining the consequential validity of my exit slips. Making sure exit slips are serving their
purpose is important because low-quality exit slips might become useless if unintended outcomes
outshine intended outcomes.

References
Bambrick-Santoyo, P. (2010). Driven by data: A practical guide to improve instruction [Kindle DX
version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com