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Feedback for Impact June 11, 2015 | Volume 10 | Issue 19 Table of Contents
Five Principles for Formative Assessments That Fuel Feedback
Tim Westerberg
Formative assessments provide the feedback on student learning that guides teacher and student adjustments during learning. If teachers want the information gathered by these formative tools to have the most impact on student learning, they must design classroom assessments with these five principles in mind:
Not all feedback results in improved student learning. Feedback that affects learning is planned in alignment with these research-based guidelines for effectiveness. Additionally, when planning teacher training on effective feedback, be sure to not only model these processes for effective feedback, but also consider the prerequisite skills teachers will need to design effective feedback systems. For example, teachers may need guidance on developing learning progressions, determining the cognitive complexity of standards and assessments, or constructing valid and reliable classroom assessments. All of these play a role in determining the quality of feedback teachers get on classroom learning.
Tim Westerberg is a former high school principal of 26 years and a current school improvement coach and author of Becoming a Great High School: Six Strategies and One Attitude That Make a Difference (ASCD, 2009). His website is timwesterberg.com.
ASCD Express, Vol. 10, No. 19. Copyright 2015 by ASCD. All rights reserved. Visit www.ascd.org/ascdexpress.
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