Rethinking Formative Assessment and the Role of Technology

• In Event: Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating Assessment and the Role of Technology

Abstract

Formative assessment is receiving more attention from educators recently, ostensibly because it offers teachers new ways to prepare their students for high stakes tests. However, the real promise of formative assessment -- creating genuine student understanding -- may be lost in the rush to find quick methods to re-teach to the test.

The objective of this design-based professional development research was to explore the role of technology in developing teachers’ understanding of formative assessment as part of a larger urban school-improvement effort. The data reveal that the program successfully engaged teachers in defining and designing authentic formative assessment activities, helped them focus their practices on student understandings, and exposed them to appropriate uses of technology for formative assessment purposes

Authors

• Ellen B. Meier, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Caron M. Mineo, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Rita Sanchez, Teachers College, Columbia University