Our Students are Not Over Tested, They are Under Tested (The Importance of Formative Assessment)

There's a significant outcry among teachers against the barrage of testing that our students are required to do. While I do not think we need more formal assessments, I think that the negativity portrayed across the profession toward these big tests has gotten in the way of good practice.  If we are doing our jobs well we are constantly assessing our students and know where they are in any given skill.  The only way to do this is through frequent formative assessments. 

Formative assessment can take many different forms.  One method that I use often is called an exit ticket.  I put one problem on the board and students write down the problem on a post it note and solve it.  They hand me the post it on the way out the door to recess.  I can quickly sort through the stack and see who is struggling.  It takes no preparation time and about two minutes to grade, but I have valuable information on who needs more help.  Another form is Thumbs up Thumbs down.  When I teach a concept such as vocabulary I may ask does the definition of Igneous rock mean rock that is changed due to heat and pressure.  

I would then ask, "If you think this definition is correct show me a thumbs up and if you think it's wrong show me a thumbs down". I can quickly see whether most of the students understand the concept, and I know whether I need to spend more time.

There are many physical and digital tools that help make formative assessment easy and fast. SugoiTeaching.com has a great list of some of these tools. We need to be careful of the not to constrain ourselves to specific formative assessment techniques, is that means we are not likely to assess as often as we should.

We should be assessing your students dozens of times each day, so that we can adjust and change to best meet our students needs. Formative assessment should be fast, low stress, and frequent. When we begin to use formative assessment in an effective way it actually makes our job much easier, and definitely more effective.