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The practice of formative assessment has been defined in a variety of ways. While all definitions describe it as a practice of eliciting evidence of student thinking during instruction, they diverge on the role information elicited about student thinking is, or is not, used to inform instruction. In this paper, identify a continuum for previous definitions of formative assessment, and then use the sociocultural framing of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) to highlight the utility of thinking about formative assessment as participation in a set of classroom practices, rather than focusing exclusively on information elicitation and use. We illustrate how the sociocultural perspective can help focus upon changes in participation in the practices of multiple communities over time.
Erin Marie Furtak, University of Colorado - Boulder
Ashley Cartun, University of Colorado - Boulder
Ruhan Circi Kizil, University of Colorado - Boulder
Ashley M. Chrzanowski, University of Colorado - Boulder
Ryan Grover, University of Colorado - Boulder
Sara C. Heredia, Exploratorium Teacher Institute
Raymond Johnson, University of Colorado - Boulder
Abby McClelland, University of Colorado - Boulder
Kathryn H.O. White, University of Colorado - Boulder