Running Head: USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY

INSTRUCTION
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Using Formative Assessments to Inform Literacy Instruction

Amanda J. Mayo
University of New England

Introduction:

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

Formative assessments are a critical part of any literacy classroom. They

give teachers real-time information about the current progress and abilities of
students. Formative assessments are often short, informal, and focused on just a
few specific learning objectives, allowing a teacher to see how well a student
understands a concept or can utilize a skill. However, its the use and interpretation
of formative assessment data that give them real power to affect student learning.
According to Johnston and Costello, The essence of formative assessment is
noticing details of literate behavior, imagining what they mean from the childs
perspective, knowing what the child knows and can do, and knowing how to arrange
for that knowledge and competence to be displayed, engaged, and extended.
(2005, pg. 262). More important than giving formative assessments is how the
information gathered is used. When a teacher knows how to gather appropriate
data, and then use that data to determine how and what to teach students,
formative assessments can have a major impact on student learning. In fact,
formative assessments are the forms of tests that can affect instruction and when
used appropriately are associated with large student gains. (Risko & WalkerDalhouse, 2010, pg. 421). Therefore, the potential is there for formative
assessments to have a huge impact on student learning and on the daily classroom
practice.

Inquiry Question:
With what I know about the potential of formative assessments, I wanted to
focus my inquiry question on how formative assessments are being used in my own
school; what types, when they are used, and how often. I also wanted to get a
clearer picture about how my colleagues use the information gathered during

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

formative assessments to inform their teaching. Therefore, my inquiry question

became; How do you use formative assessments in literacy to adjust your teaching
plans?

Survey:
Keeping in mind my inquiry question, I designed a seven question survey using
Google Forms to gather data about what types of formative assessments are being
used by teacher in my school, how they determine which students to give them to,
and how they use the information gather to adjust their teaching practice. The
questions included on the survey were:
1) What types of formative assessments do you use in literacy?
Observations/anecdotal notes
Reading Inventories
Exit Slips
Oral Questioning and/or Discussion
Summaries
Graphic Organizers
Visual Representations
Running Records
Other
2) How often do you utilize formative assessments in literacy?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Less often
3) How do you determine when to use a formative assessment in literacy?
I use them constantly as Im teaching
I use them when I see students struggling with a concept
I use them based on checkpoints in my unit
I have a schedule of assessments I have to/want to give throughout the
year
Other
4) How do you determine what type of formative assessment to use?
5) How do you determine who to give formative assessments to?
I give them to all my students at the same time
I select students who I think are struggling with a concept
I give them to small groups who have been working on a particular skill

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

I randomly select a couple of students to get a general idea of how the

class is doing
Other
6) How often do you change your teaching plans as a result of a formative
assessment?
7) What steps do you take when an assessment shows that a child has not
developed an understanding of the concept youre teaching?

Data Analysis:
A week after sending out my survey, I had responses from sixteen colleagues
which included three literacy support teachers and thirteen 3 rd-5th grade classroom
teachers. In looking at the data, I was pleasantly surprised by both the frequency
and variety of formative assessments being used in classrooms in my building.
In looking at the
types of assessments
used, I discovered that
all of the teachers
surveyed used both
observations/anecdotal
Figure 1

notes and oral

questioning and/or discussions to gather information about what their students

know and can do. Figure 1 shows how many respondents selected each of the
assessment formats in both bar graph and numerical format. Also noted in the data
was that on average, 5 types of formative assessments were selected by each
teacher; showing that the teachers surveyed have a range of formative
assessments that they are using to gather information about their students.

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

The results from question 2 (displayed in Figure 2) show that all but one of
the respondents are
utilizing formative
assessments on a
regular basis. Half of
the respondents

Figure 2

reported using formative assessments weekly while another 30% use them every
single day. 13% of respondents use formative assessments monthly. This
information shows me that the colleagues surveyed are realizing the usefulness of
formative assessments and are incorporating them as a regular part of their
teaching practice.

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

Next I asked teachers to look at how they determine when to use a formative
assessment. As is clear in Figure 3, the majority of respondents (ten out of sixteen)
stated that they used them constant as theyre teaching. Seven respondents said
that they use them when they see students struggling with a concepts. Only three
teachers selected that they have
Figure 3

a schedule of assessments that

they give throughout the year
which makes me curious about
whether long-range planning of

Figure 4

formative assessments yields

better understanding of student progress. According to McKenna and Walpole,

collecting and reporting the data are a far cry from actually using data to inform
instruction for every student (2005, pg. 86). Therefore, frequency and motivations
behind administering formative assessments are really second to looking at how
that information is used.
My forth question asked teachers to think about how they determine what
type of formative assessments to use in a given situation. I left this as an openended question to give teachers the opportunity to come up with answers on their
own, and not try to categorize their approach to formative assessments. Several of
the responses to this question acknowledge that their choice in assessment format
depended on what the information was being used for, and what learning objectives
were being assessed. This explains why the teachers each selected several of the
options from question 1; theyre using each type of assessment for a different
purpose and to gather different information on students.

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

In looking at the results for question 5; How do you determine who to give
formative assessments to? I was curious to see whether teachers tend to give
whole-class formative assessments, or to focus on small groups/individuals for any
particular reason. I wasnt surprised to see that 63% of those surveyed stated that
they give them to all of their students at the same time. The next most frequent
answer was that teachers give
them to students who they think
are struggling with a concept. Both
of these answers are the most
common ways I personally
administer formative assessments
as I like to gather information about each and every student for the most part, but
will also focus on several students

Figure 5

who I believe are struggling or who have struggled in the past in order to give them
more support.
In questions 6 and 7, I really got down to how teachers use the results of
formative assessments to affect their teaching. In question 6, I asked the openended question of how often they change their teaching plans based on the results
of a formative assessment. I thought it was important for this question to be openended as it would allow each respondent to consider when they are doing it, and not
be forced in to categorizing their answer. Most of the teachers who were surveyed
answered this question with some form of the answer as needed. Some of them
specified that it was when their assessment showed the learning objectives were
not being met, other stated it as when students were struggling. One teacher had
an interesting response to the question, she wrote Daily! We never have the luxury

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

of pulling out a saved unit and cranking through it. I found that to be a very
insightful response because this teacher was acknowledging how we often change
our teaching based on what students have done the day (or hours) before. Often,
we dont even realize that weve performed some sort of formative assessment in
the process, but were using the information we gather about student
understanding from minute to minute and day to day to alter our plans and how we
go about teaching.
The final question on my survey was; What steps do you take when an
assessment shows that a child has not developed an understanding of a concept
youre teaching? Again, I left this as an open-ended response question to get the full
range of possible answers. Several teachers surveyed mentioned that they reteach
or try another strategy when students are demonstrating that they dont grasp a
concept. Some of them mentioned doing this for an entire class when many
students are struggling, others specified that they form small groups with a similar
lack of understanding or that they work independently with individual students to
give them extra practice and scaffolding. One teacher stated in her response that
when a child repeatedly shows that they are struggling, she will work with parents,
support staff and the child to create more focused interventions and supports to
help that child and potentially take them to the Student of Concern meeting to get
further help in how to support that child. I had another teacher who stated I devote
as much time as possible to work one on one or in a small group with those who did
not get it. Unfortunately there is very little time build into our scheduling for this to
occur. Sometimes you just have to move ahead. I found this answer to be very
honest and straightforward about the limitations we sometimes face as teachers.

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

While its not easy, sometimes the reality of the situation is that we have to move
on before every single student has successfully mastered a concept.

Conclusions:
In looking at the data from my entire survey, it is clear that the
teachers in my school are using formative assessments in many different ways and
with different goals, reactions and timelines. However, each and every single
teacher surveyed uses formative assessments to gain a better understanding of
their students progress and using that data to better meet students needs.
Reflection:
I found the formative feedback part of this assignment to be very useful in
terms of my own thinking about the data I collected and how I could use it, however
I didnt get much feedback that would make my data analysis any stronger. While
my group members didnt have suggestions on ways to make the assignment itself
stronger, they did ask questions that made me think more about the implications of
what I had learned. Several group members asked me what I was going to do with
this information; what I hadnt even thought of. While I dont have a specific plan for
wide-spread sharing, I have shared the data I collected with several of the survey
takers who were interested in seeing how their responses correlated with the whole
group. I also had a great conversation with my schools literacy coach about plans
for using more formative assessments in reading and training teachers to use them
for progress monitoring as well as informing instruction. I also realized through our
group discussion that the data I collected through my survey left me with more
questions about how others in my building are using formative assessments. Im

USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO INFORM LITERACY INSTRUCTION

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now curious about how teachers are using formative assessment data to monitor
student progress (especially with struggling students) since many said they use
formative assessments with their entire class. Overall I found the formative
feedback piece to be useful for my own thinking, but I think I would have
(potentially) received more useful feedback if our group had been larger since there
were only three people looking at this initial draft.

References:
Johnston, P. & Costello, P. (2005). Theory and research into practice: Principles for
literacy assessment. Reading Research Quarterly, Vol 40, No 2, 256-265.
McKenna, M. & Walpole, S. (2005) How well does assessment inform our reading
instruction? The Reading Teacher. 59 (1). 84-86.
Risko, V.J. & Walker-Dalhouse, D. (2010) Making the most of assessments to inform
instruction. The Reading Teacher, 63 (5). 420-422.