Supporting Teachers in Improving Formative Decision-Making: Design Principles for Formative Assessment Plans

Abstract

Formative assessment is considered as one of the most effective interventions to support teacher decision-making and improve education and student learning. However, formative assessment does not always meet these expectations. In order to be effective, formative assessment activities should be consciously and coherently planned aligned with other aspects of the curriculum and the decisions teachers wish to make based on these activities. While there is sufficient support for teachers to design formative assessment activities, no guidelines exist to help them tie these different activities together in an effective way. To support teachers in designing formative assessment plans informing formative decision-making, this study focused on the creation of a set of design principles. These design principles for formative assessment plans were formulated based on expert interviews and subsequently evaluated by future users. The result is a set of eight design principles that can be used and validated in educational practice.

El papel de la evaluación de los aprendizajes en la dimensión formativa a través de los procesos de retroalimentación

“…La evaluación formativa se considera una de las intervenciones más eficaces para apoyar la toma de decisiones de los docentes y mejorar la educación y el aprendizaje de los alumnos. Para que sean efectivas, las actividades de evaluación formativa deben planificarse de manera consciente y coherente alineadas con otros aspectos del currículo y las decisiones que los docentes deseen tomar en función de estas actividades (Van der Steen et al, 2022).…”

“…Si bien existe suficiente apoyo para que los docentes diseñen actividades de evaluación formativa, no existen pautas para ayudarlos a vincular estas diferentes actividades de manera efectiva. Para apoyar a los docentes en el diseño de planes de evaluación formativa que informen la toma de decisiones formativas (Van der Steen et al, 2022).…”

Designing Formative Assessment That Improves Teaching and Learning: What Can Be Learned from the Design Stories of Experienced Teachers?

“…Research describes many pitfalls teachers can encounter when implementing formative assessment. For example, studies that investigated the implementation of formative assessment in practice conclude that in order to be effective, there needs to be more consideration for the integration, coherency, and alignment of formative assessment in classroom practice (Gulikers et al, 2013;Van Den Berg, 2018;Wylie & Lyon, 2015). Formative assessment should be aligned with learning objectives, lesson activities, and other assessment activities (Biggs, 1996;Gulikers et al, 2013).…”