Components & Elements in Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is a planned, ongoing process used by all students and teachers during learning and teaching to elicit and use evidence of student learning to improve student understanding of intended disciplinary learning outcomes and support students to become more self-directed learners.
FAME’s components and elements are framed by three guiding questions:*
*(Sadler, 1989; Hattie and Timperley, 2007; Gotwals et al., forthcoming)
Where Are We Going?
Planning is a complex process that enables a teacher to plan student engagement with content that promotes student learning. Learning Targets written in student-friendly language are used to help students understand what they are learning.
What Does The Student Understand Now?
Teachers Elicit Evidence of Learning to help them understand where students are in relation to the learning targets, help students see what they know and need to work on, and help teachers and students make decisions about where to go next with the learning.
How Do We Get To The Learning Target?
Formative Feedback, verbal and written, is provided to students to help them understand how close they are to the learning targets and what they can do to move closer. Instructional Decisions, as part of the formative assessment process, are made by teachers to alter or verify instruction based on student evidence and their progression toward learning targets. In addition, students make learning decisions in the formative assessment process when they use formative feedback about their progress to make adjustments in their learning and set goals to reach the learning target.