Classroom Assessment Essentials

Chapter 1. Understanding the Formative Assessment Cycle

We have to stop thinking about diversity and start thinking about inclusion.

—Viola Davis

Diversity requires commitment. Achieving the superior performance diversity can produce needs further action—most notably, a commitment to develop a culture of inclusion.

—Alain Dehaze

Interviewer: How would you describe inclusion at your workplace?

Rosa: I feel like I have to put on an act at my job just to be accepted. I'm already cheery, but I feel like I have to amp it up and act super bubbly all the time. And you know what's strange? I feel like I shouldn't have to do that to belong, but that's the world we live in. It feels like there are no safe spaces for me to be myself until I get in my car at the end of the workday.

Alison: At work, it feels like I have to manage two things: my workload and the way I present myself. When I am talking with my white colleagues, I often find my voice and tone changing in ways that are different from what's natural for me. Sometimes, I don't even share my true opinion when asked because I don't want to receive backlash from my white colleagues—I just smile and agree. I don't do it on purpose, but I feel like I allow it to happen because if I don't, they are either going to get uncomfortable around me or they just won't understand me. But it makes me feel bad. It's like you're hiding a portion of yourself because you know that, depending on how you interact with the person, they will determine whether or not they understand you or whether or not they like you.

Throughout this book, we have drawn from teacher voices from the field as a source of insider knowledge about the ways many educators of color experience and navigate their schools. These interview excerpts from Rosa and Alison represent what is under the surface for many as they navigate isolation and challenging organizational conditions. Although the schools they work in may strive to employ a racially diverse educator workforce and wave the banner of acceptance, these narratives raise red flags about social belonging in the workplace and educators' ability to bring their true selves to their work. Unfortunately, Rosa and Alison are not outliers. Rather, their experiences are validated by a substantial research base, verbal and written testimonials from educators of color, and, anecdotally, countless conversations I have had as an instructional leader and teacher coach. Their stories are also consistent with my own experiences and observations as a former classroom teacher and instructional leader.

Nationally renowned educator, former White House principal ambassador fellow, and CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development Sharif El-Mekki (2022) makes a case that "recruiting Black teachers into a burning schoolhouse won't help to retain them." He uses the metaphor of a burning schoolhouse to describe organizational conditions that alienate, exclude, and push out educators of color. Quoting Pennsylvania teacher Kyle Epps, El-Mekki writes, "Hiring people of color is not enough to create culturally affirming schools. Schools need to have systems, programs and curriculum in place whose main goals are to foster and celebrate people of color" (paras. 13–14).

In line with this metaphor of the burning schoolhouse, we will examine a final call to action—one that entreats instructional leaders to attend to culturally affirming conditions in their schools.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (n.d.) definition of inclusion states:

Inclusion is a state of being valued, respected and supported. It's about focusing on the needs of every individual and ensuring the right conditions are in place for each person to achieve his or her full potential. Inclusion should be reflected in an organization's culture, practices and relationships that are in place to support a diverse workforce. Inclusion is the process of creating a working culture and environment that recognizes, appreciates, and effectively utilizes the talents, skills, and perspectives of every employee; uses employee skills to achieve the agency's objectives and mission; connects each employee to the organization; and encourages collaboration, flexibility, and fairness. We define inclusion as a set of behaviors (culture) that encourages employees to feel valued for their unique qualities and experience a sense of belonging. In simple terms, inclusion is getting the mix to work together. (paras. 5–6, emphasis in original)

Simply put, inclusion is a relational construct that examines how staff experience an organization, relate to each other, and function as a team.

This final chapter explores Principle 6: Lead for an inclusive community. We will also look at two concrete strategies to foster schoolwide commitment for culturally affirming schools: equity training and racial affinity spaces. Whereas Principles 4 and 5 focused largely on organizational dynamics regarding teaching and learning, Principle 6 encourages leaders to increase cultural competency and critical consciousness in staff. By themselves, strategies such as equity training and racial affinity spaces are not silver bullets; rather, they facilitate moving staff and other invested partners toward identifying and dismantling toxic structures in the workplace, enhancing cross-cultural understanding, and promoting social belonging for all, resulting in schools where educators can be their authentic selves and are seen, heard, and valued. Although different school types and settings may have different organizational expectations and constraints, the guidance in the following pages should help you advance your goal of leading a culturally affirming school to support and retain teachers of color.

Equity Training Explored

Kareem: I'm grateful for all the equity training that I had at my old school. I didn't see it then, but I see the differences between then and now with my new school. In my last school, it was like a family—everybody, including teachers, parents, students, and admin. At this school, we have it, but it doesn't seem to work. The way teachers speak about our Black and Latinx kids is atrocious—especially when the parents are not around! And because I stand up for our babies, I get thrown under the bus constantly. Makes me miss my last school so much. The staff was a bit more diverse than at my current school and we were professional with each other. We fostered positive relationships with each other. We really cared about each other. We learned from each other. We checked in on each other. There was just so much unity.

Equity training is a tool to advance intrapersonal and organizational cultural competence and critical consciousness among staff. Broadly, equity training includes mechanisms (e.g., coaching, professional development) that encourage the adoption of antibias and antiracist ideologies, behaviors, and praxis among staff. Equity trainings often explore the historical, social, organizational, and interpersonal dimensions of intersectional inequalities and stimulate reflection among participants to identify how these dimensions manifest in their communities of origin, everyday lives, and work. Sometimes referred to as antibias trainings, diversity workshops, or cultural competency professional development, equity training creates shared language and knowledge around concepts such as opportunity and resource gaps (see Chapter 1); colorblindness, bias, and racial microaggressions (see Chapter 2); and stereotypes and race-based assumptions (see Chapter 4). In these spaces, educators interrogate normalized assumptions and ahistorical truths—about themselves, their environment, or those from different ethnic-racial or cultural backgrounds—that they have breathed in like smog, whether they want to or not (Tatum, 2017). Equity training provides guidance on bridging cultural, class, and other social divides by learning from others of different backgrounds and identities. By sharing stories and gaining insight into how intersectional forces influence their daily lived experiences, educators can develop cultural competency and be inspired to act against inequality both inside and outside their classrooms. Equity training, when implemented correctly, can lead to healing, joy, and in lak'ech, a Maya-inspired concept explained by playwright and screenwriter Luis Valdez (1994) as "si te amo y respeto (if I love and respect you)/me amo y respeto yo (I love and respect myself)." Authentic equity training should foster a culturally affirming community that values and celebrates difference.

What Is the Formative Assessment Cycle?

Assessment is formative when its primary purpose is to inform teaching and learning—when it forms something. Assessment is summative when its primary purpose is to grade, certify, or report learning—when it sums up something. Some kinds of formative assessment can occur without students, for example, when a teacher uses results of an interim assessment for instructional planning. However, the kind of formative assessment that has been shown to be effective for learning involves students and happens in the classroom during learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998). It is sometimes called assessment for learning. This chapter describes this kind of student-involved classroom formative assessment, which plays out in what has been called the formative assessment cycle.

The formative assessment cycle, sometimes called the formative learning cycle, is typically expressed as three questions: Where am I going? Where am I now? Where to next? (or sometimes, How do I close the gap?) This cycle (see Figure 1.1) is a practical expression of what happens during students' regulation of learning.

Figure 1.1. The Formative Assessment Cycle

Keeping the formative assessment cycle in mind as you are teaching will focus your formative assessment on students and their learning, which is what needs to happen if the much-touted benefits of formative assessment are to be realized in your classroom. Keeping the focus on students will help you keep the focus on learning. Fisher and Frey (2009, p. 21) have described this same cycle from the point of view of what the teacher does: "feed up, feed back, feed forward."

Why Is the Formative Assessment Cycle Important?

Self-regulation of learning, sometimes called "learning how to learn," is explained as both a mechanism by which students learn and a desired outcome itself. Self-regulation of learning happens when students set goals for their learning—or at least understand what the goals are—and muster cognitive, motivational, and behavioral strategies to meet them. As a simple example, consider a student trying to learn how to do multistep math problems that require two different operations (addition and multiplication, say). Cognitively, the student considers various problem-solving strategies and pays attention to how to figure out when to add and when to multiply. Motivationally, the student applies herself to the task, paying attention, willing herself to do assigned practice work, and so on. Behaviorally, the student might choose to persist in the work even if it's hard, to ask for help when needed, and so on. Typically, teachers want students to apply themselves to their learning in this way—that is, to use the formative assessment cycle—both so they learn the intended content and so they learn how to approach learning. None of that is possible if students do not understand what they are trying to learn and have no way to figure out where they are now and where to go next.

Contrast this self-regulated learner with a student who is merely complying with teacher directions, may or may not understand the goal of learning is to do multistep problems, and simply does what he is asked to do. The student may learn how to do multistep problems, through repetition if nothing else, but he may not be aware of exactly what it is he is able to do and may not learn anything about how to apply himself in future lessons.

How Do I Use the Formative Assessment Cycle in My Teaching and Assessment?

The formative assessment cycle works best in a classroom context where students feel safe to express their ideas and where mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn. Students do not learn all by themselves, but rather through social interaction with teachers and peers, the classroom context, and the content itself. In a learning-oriented classroom, students would feel safe, for example, to ask how to figure out what to add and what to multiply. In classes that emphasize sharing right answers, students might not feel safe to ask such a question, because it would mean they had to show they didn't know something.

Some strategies for valuing learning in a classroom include the following:

Teach students that making mistakes is part of the learning process. Say this, explicitly. Comment on students' thinking when they share it, and help everyone see how the thinking led to the learning. Strategies like "my favorite no" (below) can help, too.
Use learning-focused language all the time. Instead of emphasizing that something will be on a test, for example, or that something will please you ("What I need from you is…"), emphasize student thinking and learning ("How are you thinking about that?" "What are you trying to learn?").
Give students helpful feedback, and opportunities to use it without penalty, to improve their work. Value the improvement (the learning) rather than the amount of time or practice it took to get there. Teach students to focus on how they will use the feedback to make their work better, how to ask further questions if needed, and so on. If students perceive feedback as information to help them move forward, rather than criticism of what they have already done, they are participating in the formative assessment cycle.
Teach students how to self-assess, and model that process yourself.

Figure 1.2 lists some strategies for classroom formative assessment. Most of them only work, or only work well, in a learning-oriented classroom, so it's a good idea to start by working on developing a learning-oriented classroom. However, using these strategies can be part of your efforts to shift the classroom climate in that direction.

Figure 1.2. Strategies for Classroom Formative Assessment

Where am I going? Strategies for starting on a learning journey

1. Sharing clear learning targets and success criteria

2. Pre-assessment (e.g., pretest, inventory, KWL chart, concept map, classroom discussion)

Where am I now? Strategies for checking for understanding during learning

3. Choosing (e.g., hand signals, colored cards or cups, student response systems)

4. Speaking (e.g., reflective toss, open-ended questions/discussion, protocols)

5. Writing (e.g., quick-writes, entrance/exit tickets, blank slides, question box)

6. Graphics (e.g., KWL, concept maps, Venn diagrams)

7. Solving (e.g., whiteboards, my favorite no, explain reasoning)

Where to next? Strategies for improving learning and next steps

8. Teacher feedback

9. Self-assessment

10. Peer assessment

Where Am I Going?

Because active learning requires that students have a goal, the most important formative assessment strategies clarify for students what they are trying to learn and what that looks like in their work. All classroom formative assessment strategies help clarify learning goals in some way, because as students get more and more information about their learning, they develop more nuanced ideas about what that learning is. Two formative assessment strategies specifically and primarily intended to focus on learning goals are sharing clear learning targets and success criteria (see Chapter 2) and using pre-assessment (see Chapter 3). Sharing clear learning targets and success criteria sets the formative learning cycle in motion for students. It is the "breakfast of champions" that starts the day—the necessary food from which learning will grow.

Many teachers are used to thinking of pre-assessment as a way to gauge students' background knowledge for an upcoming unit or series of lessons. This is true as far as it goes, but the best pre-assessment also serves to give students an idea of what they will be trying to learn in that unit or series of lessons, and feedback on things to watch for as they do their studying and work.

Almost any of the strategies for checking for understanding during lessons can be used as pre-assessment (i.e., before lessons) as well as during lessons. In addition, teachers sometimes give a conventional pre-test to check for prior knowledge of facts and concepts or an inventory or survey to assess students' interest. Pre-tests should test what students know, not what they don't, to avoid starting a unit with a failure experience. Select a few key facts and concepts that will be most useful for planning. Don't grade pre-tests; students should not be held accountable for information they have not been taught. Review pre-tests by focusing on what students know and how they are thinking about key concepts and use that information to support differentiated instruction.

Where Am I Now?

The formative assessment cycle is fueled by information. When students do learning and assessment activities that are closely matched with the daily learning target and part of a trajectory toward a longer-term learning goal, they not only learn, but they produce evidence of learning. Think of a simple example. Students who are trying to learn to write effective persuasive essays practice writing those essays, using targets (taking a clear position, providing clear support for the position, etc.) and criteria (e.g., from a rubric for persuasive writing). As they do this, they learn—and they also produce essays that can be assessed.

Teachers can develop a repertoire of information-gathering techniques that are useful during learning to give students and teachers a quick check for understanding. Most of them are useful for pre-assessment, as well. Use these formative assessment strategies regularly, typically at least once during each lesson.

Each of the strategies for checking for understanding in Figure 1.2 depends on a question or prompt to which students respond. In every case, the quality of the formative assessment information depends directly on the quality of that question or prompt. Figure 1.2 organizes these strategies according to the kind of response students make.

Some questions call for students to select a response. These can be multiple-choice or true-false questions about content or questions about student confidence in their understanding. Students can indicate their choices with hand signals (e.g., thumbs up, down, or sideways; fist-to-five), with colored cards or cups (red-yellow-green), with electronic student response systems (sometimes called "clickers"), or with other app-based or web-based quiz software.

Oral questions in class call for students to speak their answers. Various question-and-answer or discussion facilitation methods can be used. The best questions are directly matched with important learning goals; require student thinking, not just recall; and provide a way in for a wide range of student responses. Brief written responses can be especially useful when you need to review answers later—as opposed to on-the-fly during a lesson—or when it would be helpful to students to take the time to think and write a response, whether on paper, by using web-based audience response software, or by using a Google form. Examples include entrance or exit tickets, quick-writes, blank slides, and question box. Some checks for understanding use graphic organizers (e.g., KWL charts, Venn diagrams) or student-constructed graphics (e.g., concept maps) where students diagram their answers to a question.

Several methods can be used for surveying class problem solving. These are often used in mathematics classes, but they can be adapted to any class in which the learning goal involves being able to solve problems. Examples include individual whiteboards and exercises like "my favorite no" or any other where the task includes having students explain their reasoning. For individual whiteboards, post a problem for students to solve, give them an appropriate amount of time, and then ask them to hold up their whiteboards. A quick scan of the room will give you information about how students are doing and what kinds of problems, if any, they are having.

"My favorite no" (demonstrated in this video https://vimeo.com/383597686 by math teacher Leah Alcala) is a routine to help students explain their thinking on a problem. The teacher poses a problem, typically as an entrance or exit ticket, and has students solve it on an index card anonymously. Collect the cards and quickly sort them into two piles: Yes (correct answers) and No (incorrect answers). Choose one of the No cards to be your favorite no; choose an example that will allow students to talk about a common misconception or something that might be a trouble spot for the group. Post the problem using a document reader or, to further anonymize, copy it onto a whiteboard. Facilitate a discussion about the problem: What was done correctly? What is incorrect (the "No")? Why is this my favorite No (what does it help us learn about this concept or kind of problem)? It helps to give students some pair-discussion time first, so that they have something to say when the discussion begins.

The type of question to which you want students to respond should dictate your choice of strategy. For example, if you want students to indicate whether they think a cork will float or sink in water, thumbs up/down would work well. If you want students to explain why the cork will float or sink, a quick-write would work better.

Where to Next?

Students can take next steps in learning in several ways. They can revise work or change the focus of their studying. They can shift the way they understand a concept, perhaps with an "aha!" moment or perhaps with carefully coached rethinking. They can go deeper, adding concepts and connections to their schema—their way of understanding—of a concept or topic. They can get information to support these next steps from self-assessment, teacher feedback, or peer assessment.

Student self-assessment is one of the hallmarks of the formative assessment cycle. Armed with a shared understanding of learning goals and criteria, students who self-assess both improve in the content area and develop their capabilities as self-regulated learners. Every lesson should include an opportunity for students to take stock of their learning, using criteria. This will keep students feeding their learning forward.

The most effective teacher feedback describes the strengths of students' current work in terms of shared criteria, makes a suggestion for next steps, and then provides students an opportunity to use the feedback. In other words, the best teacher feedback includes some additional lesson plans.

The greatest benefit of peer assessment is that the peer assessor gets a clearer understanding of the learning target. When students look at the work of their classmates, they see another example of what it means to work toward the learning goal, and in the process can better understand their own progress.

How Do I Involve Students in the Formative Assessment Cycle?

All formative assessment strategies involve students in some way, as you can see. For student involvement to be effective, students must have three things. The most important thing about involving students is starting out with clear learning targets and success criteria. Students can only engage in the formative learning cycle if they have a clear idea of the goal for learning. They can only move toward something if they have some idea of what the "something" is, at the level of someone who has not yet learned it.

Second, they must have a sense that their thinking, and their decisions about their learning, matter. Listening to students is critical. Really listen, figure out what they really mean and how they are thinking, and then respond to that. Use the language of the learning target and success criteria to help students develop clarity about what they mean.

Third, the process of instruction and assessment during lessons must be structured to allow for students to see their work in terms of where they are going, where they are now, and where they should go next. That means you need assignments that clearly match lesson learning targets, a clear progression lesson-by-lesson that is leading toward a larger learning goal, and pause points and feedback that allow students to take next steps with the appropriate level of scaffolding.

What Are Some Common Misconceptions About the Formative Assessment Cycle?

In this author's experience, two common misconceptions cause the most harm to the whole idea of formative assessment. The first is that formative assessment is a certain kind of test. The point of this chapter has been understanding the formative assessment cycle, which is a process. To be sure, it is based on information from assessments, some of which can be tests, and these assessments must be of high quality to yield useful information. What makes assessment information formative is that it is used formatively, that is, when it contributes to students' participation in a formative learning cycle toward a desired learning goal.

A second common misconception is not exactly a misconception, it's more of a misplaced attribution. Sometimes the benefits of classroom formative assessment, which engage students' self-regulation of learning—what this chapter has called the formative learning cycle—are mistakenly attributed to the interim assessments required by some schools and districts or to the common formative assessments sometimes administered across classrooms within a school or district. So, for example, you may have heard educators say that their school gave "formative assessments" and that they expected that to increase achievement. That "s" on the end of the word assessments is a clue that the speaker is thinking about formative assessment as a type of test. Although information from interim assessments can be used formatively, if, for example, teachers use it to improve their instructional plans for the next time they teach a topic, there is no evidence that this formative use actually improves achievement (Hill, 2020), as there is for classroom formative assessment. The main point of this chapter is that student achievement improves when students know where they are going, where they are now, and where to go next in their learning. Student achievement improves with classroom formative assessment based on the formative learning cycle.

For Further Reading

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 139–148.

Brookhart, S. (2020, May). Five formative assessment strategies to improve distance learning outcomes for students with disabilities (NCEO Brief 20). National Center on Educational Outcomes.

Brookhart, S. M., & McTighe, J. (2017). The formative assessment learning cycle (quick reference guide). ASCD.

Chappuis, J. (2015). Seven strategies of assessment for learning (2nd ed.). Pearson.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2009). Feed up, back, forward. Educational Leadership, 67(3), 20–25.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2014). Checking for understanding: Formative assessment techniques for your classroom (2nd ed.). ASCD.

Frey, N., Hattie, J., & Fisher, D. (2018). Developing assessment-capable visible learners, grades K–12. Corwin.

Hill, H. C. (2020, February 7). Does studying student data really raise test scores? Education Week.

Moss, C. M., & Brookhart, S. M. (2019). Advancing formative assessment in every classroom (2nd ed.). ASCD.

Wiliam, D., & Leahy, S. (2015). Embedding formative assessment. Learning Sciences International.

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