Taking FormativeWhen an urban high school embraced formative

assessments, teaching moved from well-intentioned guesswork to a finely-tuned dance.

Douglas Fisher, Maria Grant, Nancy Frey,

and Christine Johnson

I n recent years, educators have

experienced much outside pressureto raise student achievement. Toavoid falling into reactive andsometimes prescriptive teaching

with prepackaged lessons, teachers andschools must increase the precision of ourteaching (Fullan, Hill, & Crevola, 2006).This is where formative assessmentcomes in. Formative assessment strate-gies-such as oral questioning, writingprompts, and tests (Fisher & Frey,2007)-are essential if we are to developthe detailed knowledge of students'understandings and misunderstandingsnecessary to teach with precision.

Although educators have learned a lotabout good formative assessment inindividual classrooms, we wonderedwhat might happen if a school took theprocess schoolwide. In 2001, through ajoint project between San Diego StateUniversity and the San Diego UnifiedSchool District, we set out to answerthis question. Hoover High School,an urban school of 2,300 students inSan Diego, California, with a highpercentage of low-income students andEnglish language learners, was our testsite.

The school arranged and paid for twoprofessors from San Diego State Univer-

sity (coauthors Douglas Fisher andNancy Frey) to teach part-time atHoover High for two years while collab-orating with teachers to embed a forma-tive assessment approach in the schoolculture. Teachers refined a process forlooking at student assessments collabo-ratively and using the information gath-ered to guide their instruction. Increating this process, we didn't wantteachers to simply give more assess-ments; we wanted them to see an imme-diate value in the process. We learned alot from the work of Georgea Langerand her colleagues (Langer, Colton, &Goff, 2003). But rather than offeringcommon formative assessments as anoption, as Langer's group did, we madedeveloping and using common assess-ments an expectation schoolwide.

We offer here the four-step processwe created for powerful schoolwideassessments at Hoover High as a modelfor others considering this approach.

Step 1: Developing Pacing GuidesEssential to this schoolwide process isthe weekly meeting of teachers incourse-alike groups rather than depart-ments (for example, all teachersteaching Algebra I or world history). Asa beginning point, course-alike groups

develop common pacing guides. Pacingguides generally identify when theteacher will teach specific content stan-dards, which instructional materials areappropriate, and what types of instruc-tional strategies teachers can deploy Inaddition to identifying these compo-nents, Hoover's pacing guides also indi-cate key vocabulary students will needto master in order to grasp coursecontent, which formative and summa-tive assessments teachers will use todetermine student understanding, andwhat accommodations are recom-mended for students with disabilities,English language learners, or studentsperforming above grade level.

64 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/DECEMBER 2007/JANUARY 2008

Assessment Schoolwide

Step 2: Designing CommonAssessmentsIn addition to choosing pacing guidesand corresponding summative assess-ments, teacher groups at Hooverdesign, develop, or modify assessmentitems that every teacher will administerregularly throughout that course.Teachers develop these test items insuch a way as to provide informationthat will help them determine whatcontent students understand, wherestudents have gaps in comprehension,and who needs intervention. As groupsof teachers develop these assessmentitems, they learn more about theirstate's content standards and how those

standards might beassessed on state tests.In addition, they planitems that will signalwhen students are over-generalizing, oversimpli-fying, or exhibitingcommon misunder-standings. We learnedabout assessment designalong the way, learningfrom assessments wewrote that didn't workand from professionaldevelopment seminarswe attended.

As part of designingcommon assessments touse throughout the year,Hoover teachers gener-ally create some

Scommon formativeSassessment items thatSmirror the state test0Sdesign because they

know that test formatpractice is essential. Students mustunderstand tests as a genre-how theywork and what to expect. However,teachers do not limit items to those thatmirror the state test format: They alsoinclude short-answer, constructed-response, and alternative-responseitems, as well as timed essays. We knowthat it's best to rely on a number ofstrategies for determining students'understanding and that the key totaking formative assessments school-wide is ensuring that teachers can deter-mine "next steps" in instruction on thebasis of such assessments-whichrequires more than practicing standard-ized questions.

Step 3: Conducting Item AnalysisTeachers in course-alike groups engagein the third step, analyzing the results,after all students in that course haveparticipated in a common formativeassessment. At Hoover, teachers useEdusoft, one of several commercial soft-ware programs that provide an itemanalysis for each assessment and indi-cate the percentage of students whoselected each of the answers. Otherpowerful programs include Datawiseand Instructional Data ManagementSystem.

To avoid falling

into prescriptive

teaching, teachers

and schools must

increase the precision

of their teaching.

The item analysis is key to instruc-tional conversations and the interven-tions that flow from them because itenables teachers to look across thestudent body for trends-content orconcepts they need to reteach, assess-ment items they need to change, orpacing guides they need to revise.Edusoft also enables teachers to analyzethe results of clusters of students, suchas exploring how English languagelearners as a group performed on aspecific item.

AssocIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVEI OPMENi 65

We didn't want teachers to simply give

more assessments; we wanted them to

see an immediate value in the process.

both parents (bb); a combination of Bb orBB would yield brown eyes.

Mr. Simms began the discussion:

MR. SIMMs: The greatest percentage ofstudents did choose the correct answer.

Step 4: Engaging inInstructional ConversationThe fourth step, instructional conversa-tion, is why Hoover High teachers do allthis work. Talking with colleagues whoteach the same content and see the samedata results is foundational to institutingimprovements and helps teachers deter-mine which instructional strategies areworking, which materials are effective,and which students still need help tomaster the standards. Each course grouphas a leader who receives professionaldevelopment in facilitation skills. Suchconversations enable teachers to returnto their individual classrooms andengage in the real work of formativeassessments-to reteach and intervenewhere students aren't doing well.

Let's consider two fruitfulinstructional conversationsobserved recently at a regularweekly meeting at Hoover.

QuesUncovering Gaps in massGenetics KnowledgeHoover science teacher MariaGrant regularly facilitatesconversations about studentwork. She and her colleagues Wha

teaching 10th grade biologyrecently had the followingconversation about students'understandings of genetics Ques

concepts while examining ques

students' responses to thisquestion on a common forma-tive assessment: Wha

In a certain species of insect,the allele for brown eyes (B) isdominant to the allele for blue

eyes (b). For this species, eye color doesnot depend on the sex of the organism.When a team of scientists crossed a maleand a female that both had brown eyes,they found that 31 offspring had browneyes and 9 had blue eyes. What are themost likely genotypes of the parentinsects?

A. BB andbbB. bb andbbC. Bb andBbD. BB andBb

Each answer shows the two alleles for

eye color of the male and female insect.The correct answer, which 46 percent of

the students chose, is C because most ofthe offspring have brown eyes but a few

have blue eyes. For an offspring to haveblue eyes, it must receive a b allele from

a S A

~tion 3. In a(n) ___________all citizensmeetings make decisions for the government.

A. monarchyC. direct democracy

t students chose:A. 7%C. 61 % (correct answer)

B. oligarchyD. representative

democracy

B. 2%D. 30%

tion 10. Use the map below to answer the followition: Sparta is located of Athens.

A. northwest B. northeastC. southwest D. southeast

t students chose:A. 10%C. 58% (correct answer)

B. 3%D. 29%

Ms. JACKSON: Yes, but 54 percent didn'tchoose the right answer: 17 percent choseanswer A. This might mean that studentsdon't understand how a recessive trait ispassed on.

MR. SIMMs: Even though I covered themain concepts of Mendelian genetics, itseems that students didn't really under-stand how expressed traits are passedfrom parent to offspring.

MRS. RODRIGUEZ: Yes, and 11 percentchose answer B. The students that chosethis answer don't understand the conceptof a dominant allele. Maybe I need tofocus more on vocabulary instruction forthis group of students. We covered thekey terms, but they don't seem to knowhow to use them. I think we should findout the specific students who missed thisand get to them during small group time.

Ms. JACKSON: I also think we needI to work on test-taking skills. Ourstudents should have been able toeliminate answers A and B rightaway because each shows a

at parent with blue eyes, and thequestion states that both parentshave brown eyes.

MR. SIMMs: Twenty-six percent ofstudents chose answer D. Maybethey thought that since three outof four alleles are B, there's acorrelation to the 31 out of 40total offspring with brown eyesdescribed in the question. I think

ng I need to review how to usePunnet's squares.

Ms. GRANT: Maybe if we sharedthese results with students, itwould facilitate their thinkingabout the content. What if weshowed all students this itemanalysis and asked them to workin small groups to determine whyspecific answers were wrong?

66 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/DECEMBER 2007/JANUARY 2008

Wouldn't that help them get test-formatpractice and also reinforce the biology?

By the end of this conversation, theteachers decided to reteach some basicconcepts and show the students theitem analysis to focus them on thereasons for the correct and incorrectanswers.

Parsing Mastery of a History UnitHoover's history teachers also analyzecommon formative assessments andchange their teaching strategies on thebasis of what they find. The departmentrecently piloted a metacognitive task incombination with a content assessment.For each question students answered,they also indicated one of the followingfour descriptions of how they answered:I knew it, I figured it out, I guessed at it,or I don't care. During a discussion ofthis assessment, for the 9th grade courseFoundations of Democracy, teachersexamined a question that confused anumber of students (see fig. 1). Mr.Jacobs summarized the knowledge gapsthis question showed:

Let's start with Question 3. Only 61percent of the students got it right, andonly 38 percent of those who answeredcorrectly self-reported that they knew it.An additional 36 percent said they figuredit out, and 24 percent guessed at it. It'sinteresting that only 3 kids (of 241) didn'tcare about this question. I know that Itaught this. Most of the wrong answerswere still based on [students' under-standing of] democracy, but not the righttype of democracy I think this could be aquick fix. We need to make sure thatstudents really have a sense of the differ-ence between direct and representativedemocracy I have an idea for a simulationthat could solidify this for students.

Mr. Jacobs described his idea for asimulation, and the teachers agreed toreteach this concept. Mrs. Johnson thenturned their attention to Question 10:

Here we go again. Our students still don'thave a sense of the cardinal points. Wekeep asking questions that require themto use map skills, but they keep gettingthem wrong. Look here, just over 50percent correct. We have to focus oninterpreting maps every day It's not justabout using this for history and geog-raphy This is a life skill.

Ms. Vasquez confessed, "I don't reallyknow how to teach this. I've shown mystudents the map and the directions. Idon't know what to do differently" Mrs.Johnson suggested to her, "I'll coveryour class so that you can go watch Mr.Applegate teach this concept. Is thatOK?" She then asked, "Does anyone elseneed help with teaching cardinal

How Studenges in Student

How Students Scored in Biology

AdvancedProficientBasicBelow basicFar below basic

(n = 333)

20031%1%

28%42%27%

20051%

18%51%22%8%

How Students Scored in History

AdvancedProficientBasicBelow basicFar below basic(n = 553)

20030%3%

27%24%46%

20053%

13%26%27%31%

Data reflect 10th grade scores on

the California StandardsTest beforeand after Hoover High implementedschoolwide formative assessment.

points?" Because many teachers wantedhelp, Mrs. Johnson recommended thatthe group consider revising the course'spacing guide to allow more time toteach map skills.

As they continued to analyze theresults, the teachers also identified asmall group of students who had missedall the test items related to governmentstructures. They believed these learnerswould benefit from instruction to buildtheir background knowledge of suchstructures. Mr. Applegate offered tomeet with these students during theschool's after-school tutoring time.

Teachers also examined the students'self-assessments and determined acorrelation between accuracy and aresponse of "I knew it." Students whochecked the "I figured it out" indicatorwere also often accurate. The teacherswere pleased to see students using test-taking strategies of elimination andusing context clues.

The Fruits of Precision TeachingAlthough the joint action project withSan Diego State has ended, Hooverteachers continue to engage in somestep of this four-step process every

AssoCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 67

week, on the day students are releasedearly Hoover has experienced impres-sive gains in student achievement sinceadopting formative assessment school-wide. As data shown in Figure 2 indi-cate, average student performance onthe California Standards Test in bothbiology and history improved appre-ciably over the first two years thatHoover High has been involved in thisformative assessment process. In 2005,for example, 51 percent of Hoover's10th graders scored at the basic level onthe California Standards Test in biology,compared with only 28 percentachieving at the basic level in 2003.Similarly, in 2005, 18 percent scored atthe proficient level on this test,compared with only 1 percent scoring atthe proficient level in 2003.

These changes came about because allHoover's teachers became more precisein their teaching. Collaborative itemanalyses and rich instructional conversa-tions based on these analyses, character-ized by collegiality and respect, drovethese changes. The key to powerfulformative assessment, whether school-wide or class-specific, is for teachers totake action as soon as they have infor-mation about what students do anddon't understand. With this key, we canall teach with precision. M

ReferencesFisher, D., & Frey, N. (2007). Checking for

understanding: Formative assessment tech-niques for your classroom. Alexandria, VA:Association for Supervision andCurriculum Development.

Fullan, M., Hill, P, & Cr&vola, C. (2006).

Breakthrough. Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin.

Langer, G. M., Colton, A. B., & Goff, L. S.(2003). Collaborative analysis of studentwork: Improving teaching and learning.Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervi-sion and Curriculum Development.

Douglas Fisher (dfisher@mail.sdsu.edu)is Professor of Literacy and Nancy Frey(nfrey@mail.sdsu.edu) is AssociateProfessor of Literacy at San Diego StateUniversity in California. Maria Grant(mgrant@fullerton.edu) is currently Assis-tant Professor of Secondary Education atCalifornia State University in Fullerton;Christine Johnson (cjohnson@hshmc.org) is an educational consultant. Fisherand Grant are authors of Better LearningThrough Structured Teaching: A Frame-work for Gradual Release of Resposibility(ASCD, in press).

%cr.5ased Assessment + lnstrl

Assessment That Informs"* Engage your students with challenging performance tasks"* See and understand your students' thinking"* Develop students' abilities to self-assess using

rubrics and benchmarks"* Material aligned to state and national standards

Exemplars Material Features:"* Differentiated math tasks at three levels"* Inquiry-based performance tasks in science"* State and national alignments"* Professional development that makes the link between

assessment, teaching and learning

Mat IScene Pofesina Dveopen

www.xem lar.co 1 0 45 450 -7

68 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/DECEMBER 2007/JANUARY 2008

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: Taking Formative Assessment SchoolwideSOURCE: Educ Leadership 65 no4 D 2007/Ja 2008

The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and itis reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article inviolation of the copyright is prohibited.