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by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
Table of Contents
It's breathtaking (and a bit intimidating) to witness the changes in education in this century. The most obvious change, of course, is the role technology has assumed in classrooms. Where once we talked about enhancement, now we recognize that technology is an essential tool for communication and collaboration. Less apparent, at least on the surface, is the way in which data has become an essential element in any conversation about teaching and learning. Most schools have a data room to display information, and nearly every school is required to report these data annually to the community. And our profession's focus on post-secondary outcomes is causing all of us to consider what happens to our graduates after they leave high school.
But educators recognize that the devices in a classroom, the results on the state achievement test, and the college- and career-readiness standards can't equip them with the information they need to figure out what to do in the next five minutes. Only formative assessment practices can deliver timely data about what students understand. Without formative assessment data, teaching is aimed at the middle. We'll never know which students were ready for a stretch, and which needed reteaching. Unfortunately, too often formative assessment has been reduced to two or three district benchmark tests, with little attention given to the data that surround us every day.
Talented educators know that the opportunities for fine-grained analysis of student learning are all around us. Each time we host a discussion with students, examine a child's writing, or listen closely to a question, there's a chance to assess formatively. But these possibilities are wasted if there isn't intention. Wise teachers know that discussions, writing assignments, and such are not compliance checks. They are to teachers what paint is to an artist—the medium we work in. It's how we paint our own picture of the learning in front of us.
We have organized the book to highlight each of these media: oral and written language, questions, projects, and performances. We include tests as a formative assessment method because they can be used to inform future instruction if used intentionally. And finally, we discuss the need for common formative assessments and consensus scoring as a means for facilitating the thoughtful conversations among educators about student learning.
Much has changed in the field of formative assessment since the first edition of Checking for Understanding was published in 2007, and we have tried to incorporate these practices into this book. As technology has taken on greater importance, we see teachers use devices such as audience response systems to gather formative assessment data. In addition, we have revised the common formative assessment chapter to reflect the regular practice of teachers who gather to examine student data. As well, we have integrated newer instructional routines, such as the use of close reading and text-dependent questions, in order to better reflect newer approaches for developing college- and career-ready students.
The second edition of Checking for Understanding has given us the opportunity to contextualize this work within a Framework for Intentional and Targeted Teaching™. The practice of checking for understanding doesn't operate in isolation, but rather is an essential element for a gradual release of responsibility instructional framework. It is also a vital facet for providing feedback to students, and a means for gathering and analyzing data. Therefore, we have consolidated practices discussed in other ASCD publications, notably our work on guided instruction, formative assessment systems, data analysis, and quality instruction.
We are as excited as you are about the innovative practices we are witnessing in classrooms across the globe. As we move forward, our collective challenge is in keeping pace with change while retaining the time-honored practices that have served generations of learners so well. How will we know what practices should be pursued and what should be abandoned? By checking for understanding, of course!
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