Running head: FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Literature Review for TPE B: Formative Assessment and Elementary School Student Academic

Achievement: A Review of the Evidence

Eric Aegerter

Professor Weintraub

TED690

17 February 2019

National University
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Abstract

This study of formative assessment set out to find out about the true benefit, and poential

pitfalls, if any, of formative assessment in the classroom. The article does a wonderful job of

defining its key vocabulary that is necessary for the reader to understand in order to grasp the

concepts throughout. Further, the article employs an exceptional well-made experiment, diving

deep into the rich history of assessment since the 1980’s.

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I chose to review an article about formative assessment because I’ve had some

professional development surrounding the subject. As a teacher who has as little time to spare

as anyone else, I want to use assessment techniques that are worthwhile. I want my assessment to

drive my instruction. In my eyes, we already have plenty of assessment that tells us whether or

not the students learned (past tense) in our yearly state testing.

This article set out to study the effect that formative assessment had on classrooms.

Among its findings was that “overall, formative assessment had a positive effect on student

academic achievement” (Klute et. al, 2017, p. 1). In order to examine the effect of formative

assessment in elementary classrooms between 1988 and 2014, the team had to define the term

“formative assessment.” The definition given in the article is, in my opinion, too long for this

short review. However, my summary, or short list of important takeaways, from the definition

are as follows: an assessment that gathers information about student learning in order to drive

instruction during or between lessons or between units. The former being a “short-cycle” and the

latter being a “medium-cycle” (Klute et. al, 2017, p. 3).

Along with the types of formative assessment based on length, the researchers also

defined types of formative assessment according to how they were being led or driven. Two

types of formative assessment were examined according to this criteria: student-directed and

other-directed. Student-directed, of course, involves the students taking ownership of their own

studies. The authors defined this type of formative assessment as allowing the students to

“appraise or monitor their own or their peers’ work, performance, strategies, or progress and

have the opportunity ot reflect on the assessment information they gathered to determine next

steps” (Klute et. al, 2017, p. 3). The other-directed category involves formative assessment being

led either by the instructor or computer software programs. The researchers, however,
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recommend that teachers who are “strapped for time” to try and implement student-directed

formative assessment.
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References

Klute, Mary, Helen Apthorp, Jason Harlacher and Marianne Reale. Formative assessment and

lementary school student academic achievement: a review of the evidence. Institute of

Educational Sciences. Retrieved from

https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/central/pdf/REL_2017259.pdf