The Power of Formative Assessment

Assessment Support as Part of Teacher Duties in the Subject of Swedish at the Elementary Level

“…On the other hand, it is described as a way of thinking, an attitude, ensuring that the assessment practice does not stop at carrying out tests that are then left without further measures. Criticism is levelled against the occasional practice of using formative assessment in a more or less instrumental way including, for example, too detailed feedback from teachers (Box, 2019;Torrance, 2012). The teachers in the present study were anxious that the results of their assessments should be forward-looking and focus on the issue of "now that we have learnt this, what do we do?"…”

“…Formative assessment is a tool for learning aimed at both students and teachers, which highlights forward-looking assessment aspects focusing on students' self-regulatory ability to respond to feedback from a teacher (Black & Wiliam, 2009;Heitink et al, 2016). In educational research, formative assessment initially focused on the design of diagnostic tests and student analyses for mapping students' cognitive positions as a starting point for teachers' planning (Black & Wiliam, 2009;Box, 2019). Subsequently, the focus lay on clarifying learning goals to students and on creating classroom situations showing students' standing vis-à-vis these goals.…”