The Fundamentals of Formative Assessments

Greenstein, L. (2010). The fundamentals of formative assessments. Katie Martin, What Teachers Really Need to Know About Formative Assessment (pp. 15-26). Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/110017/chapters/The-Fundamentals-of-Formative-Assessment.aspx

This article focuses formative assessments and how teachers can use them as a tool to not only aid their students, but also to help them in modifying their teaching technique. She explains that formative assessments help students in reaching their goals, rather than determining if a goal was met or not (Greenstein, 2010). She explains the importance of formative assessments and the history behind using assessments in the classroom. Basic formative assessments have been used throughout history and have been part of the educational system from the beginning of time. The practice of classroom assessment has been used throughout the years, but there wasn’t a concrete name given to it until recently. In 1967, Michael Scriven coined the phrase “formative” evaluation. He spoke of using these evaluations, to assist in learning, where a program needed to make changes. He called this type of evaluation, used for the purpose of improving, “formative” (Greenstein, L., 2010).

Benjamin Bloom was one of the first to apply the concept of “formative” assessment. He explained that students needed to master the learning goal before moving forward to the next level. In the 70’s, students were given packets with objectives to complete which the students had to finish in order to move on to the following packet. This was a form of early scaffolding, but it had little teacher interaction (Greenstein, L., 2010). Formative assessments have been used for many years and have proven to be effective in student learning and in helping drive teacher instruction. They presently are, and have been a tool used throughout history to pinpoint student needs and address them accordingly.