Common Formative Assessment

Which of the following is considered a formative assessment?

• A teacher provides an end-of-unit quiz, for which she enters grades in a grade book.

• All students take benchmark assessments at the end of each semester.

• A teacher asks students to hold up cards during instruction to indicate understanding. He adjusts instruction accordingly.

• A team provides an end-of-unit quiz and moves on to the next unit.

According to Richard DuFour, which of the following is the best tool for showing irrefutable evidence of significantly better results?

• Regular collaborative team meetings

• Common summative assessment

• Common formative assessment

• Building intervention time into the school schedule

What is the best approach for collaborative teams to score performance-based art portfolios, musical performances, oral presentations, science projects, and independent reading inventories?

• Agree on a rubric with clear criteria. Each teacher scores student submissions based on the rubric.

• Randomly distribute student submissions to team members for grading at their discretion.

• Score submissions individually at each teacher’s discretion.

• Assign the teacher who has the most experience with the topic to grade student submissions.

One class in a team has been consistently behind the others in terms of proficiency. The team is struggling with how to determine the rigor of the assessment. Which of the following is the best approach?

• Create one rigorous test, but have a plan to address students who score below proficiency.

• Create a version of the test that is appropriate for each class but covers the same concepts.

• Create one test that is less rigorous so that all students are likely to be proficient.

• Create one rigorous test, but wait to administer it until teachers think that all students will score at or above proficiency.

Which of the following teams should be excused from creating common formative assessments?

• The French team

• The English team

• The Physical Education team

• None of the above

An advanced chemistry team is meeting about a common formative assessment it has administered. In two of the chemistry classes, 80% of students scored at or above proficiency on the assessment. In one class, 95% of students scored at or above proficiency. In one class, 60% of students scored at or above proficiency. Which of the following is the best way to discuss these results?

• The teacher with 95% of students at or above proficiency should share his or her teaching strategies with the other teachers and work closely with the teacher with 60% of students at or above proficiency.

• All team members should share their strategies. All team members should try to incorporate the strategies that seem to work.

• The teacher with 60% of students at or above proficiency should share his or her results so the others can provide constructive feedback.

• The teachers should spend their time discussing interventions. The difference in performance is likely due to class makeup, not teaching strategies.