Fundamentals of Formative Assessment

February 6, 2019

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Today’s Presenters

Rachel Brown, PhD

Senior Academic Officer

FastBridge Learning

John Bielinski, PhD

Senior Director of Research & Development

FastBridge Learning

Lynn M. Edwards, PhD

Post-Doctoral Research Associate & School Psychologist

University of Minnesota

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What You’ll Learn Today

• Common misunderstandings about formative

assessment

• What defines formative assessment

• How formative assessment helps students

• How formative assessment fits into an MTSS

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Common Misunderstandings

• Too much testing

• Interferes with instruction

• Students don’t like it

• Data not useful

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Too Much Testing

• Maybe

• We need the right

assessments

• Formative

assessment is

different

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Interferes with Instruction

• Sometimes

• Formative

assessment

complements

instruction

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Students Don’t Like It

• No evidence

• Feedback loop

• Builds confidence

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Data Not Useful

• Need the right data

• At the right time

• With time for review

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Defining Features

• Brief and simple

• Sensitive to growth

• Reliable and valid

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Brief and Simple

• Single testing session

• Immediate reporting

• Easily understandable scores

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Sensitive to Growth

• Scores reveal weekly

growth

• Helps with lesson

planning

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Reliable and Valid

• Scores are stable over

time

• Measures what the

student is learning

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Helping Students

• Feedback loop

• Documentation

• Next steps

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Feedback Loop

• Student progress

• Motivation

• Goals

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Documentation

• Progress data tell a story

• Can support long-term

planning

• Eligibility decisions

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Next Steps

• Problem solving

• Less or more

support

• Celebrations

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Formative Assessment and MTSS

• Supporting all students

• Data-driven

• Timely support

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Supporting ALL Students

• Tiered supports are

for all students

• Reflects many types of

needs

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Data Driven

• Objective

• Student-focused

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Timely Support

• Weekly

• Immediate feedback

• Success focus

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One Simple Solution.

Delivered in Half the Time,for Half the Cost.

The Formative Assessment System for Teachers

(FAST™) is the only solution that combines

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) and

Computer-Adaptive Testing (CAT) to transform the

way teachers measure and monitor student

progress in reading, math and social-emotional

behavior — with faster, more effective results.

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Questions?

Send your questions to the

panelists using the Questions tab

in your control panel.

Interested in learning more about FAST™?

Get in touch!

612.254.2534 | Fastbridge.org