Defining Formative Assessment – If We Can’t Define It, We Can’t Measure Its Success

By Sarah Sheikh

Formative Assessment Works

Formative assessment is a tool that can bolster student progress because it works. Formative assessment works, a phrase repeated so many times by educators that it has become a core part of the educational landscape. Perhaps nothing has garnered more interest from educators in recent years than formative assessment or assessment for learning (AFL), and I will use the two terms interchangeably. However, educators, policy-makers, and test publishing companies faced a conundrum when a mass roll-out to measure its effectiveness was carried out following Paul Black and Dylan William’s publication of their essay “The Black Box” in the journal “Phi Delta Kappan” in 1998. As Randy Bennett (2011) pointed out, “If we can’t clearly define an innovation, we can’t meaningfully document its effectiveness.” In their synthesis of research studies published in the journal “Assessment in Education,” Black and William conclude that “the research reported here shows conclusively that formative assessment does improve learning.” 

AFL Practices Remain Patchy

However, despite extensive research and a 150 million pound investment by the UK government for professional development for teachers in assessment for learning (Department for Children, Schools, and Families, 2008), its practice in classrooms by teachers remained patchy, and the corollary about formative assessment seemed a bit grandiloquent. As Robert Coe, Professor of Education, argues, “During the fifteen years of this intensive intervention to promote AFL, despite its near universal adoption and strong research evidence of substantial impact on attainment, there has been no (or at best limited) effect on learning outcomes nationally” (Coe, R., 2013, Improving Education: A Triumph of Hope over Experience, p.10). Office for Standards in Education also mentioned in their inspection report (2008) that teachers were not always able to articulate how AFL improved learning, which brings us back to Bennett’s assertion that if you can’t define an innovation, you can’t conclusively state that the improvement in learning is the cause of AFL practices. 

Defining Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers (FAST), formed in the United States in 2006, was an offshoot of the State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS), a consortium composed of education personnel whose primary focus in assessment was “assessment for learning” defines formative assessment as follows, “Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.” The noticeable elements in the FAST definition of formative assessment are process, ongoing instruction, assessment-based feedback, and teachers and students making adjustments to improve learning to achieve a learning outcome. Various experts in assessment have defined formative assessment slightly differently; however, the above elements of the FAST definition of formative assessment are a central part of all definitions. Formative assessment is a process that brings students closer to achieving a learning outcome through feedback. AFL is not a test but is part of an ongoing instruction. 

Definitional Clarity Matters

It is incumbent on educators to define formative assessment so its benefits can penetrate deep into the educational system and into the heart of school classrooms. According to Nickelsen and Dickson (2019), formative assessment can take many shapes and forms, such as writing an essay or doing a hands-on activity observed by teachers with the intent to provide feedback to move learning forward. Formative assessment is not separate from teaching and learning but an instructional marrow integral to all learning in all lessons. However, like any good innovation, poorly implemented will not yield the desired results; formative assessment is no different. However, we can start by defining, understanding, and practicing it until every educator becomes an inveterate practitioner of AFL in a school.