Our school has been participating in some professional
development targeting Formative Assessment and data analysis. The PD is a RI Department of Education
initiative that is facilitated by Amplify.
Our team, with the support of Nate Groenendyk, our Amplify facilitator,
has been working over the past few months to teach, target, and transform the
way we use data at CMS. We have come to
consensus that Formative Assessment is the link between the teaching and
learning or in other words, the link between teacher instruction and student
outcomes. We
recently provided two sessions for teachers on a voluntary basis focusing on
analyzing data using the Short Cycle of
Inquiry. This cycle provides a
thinking framework for teachers to use as they dig deeper into their formative
assessment data. Teachers create
clusters and identify pattern of needs from the clusters. Pattern of needs do not always have to be
a deficit area but can also be an enrichment area so the entire class of students is
accounted for in the instructional cycle. We also have to remember that we do
not attach grades to formative assessments.
They are meant to check the learning aligned to objectives and goals. We should be asking ourselves, what can I do
as a teacher in my instruction that will better serve our students as they work toward the outcomes we expect?
