Page 31 - Learning for All – A Guide to Effective Assessment and Instruction for All Students, Kindergarten to Grade 12, 2013

Assessment for Learning • 29
• Formative assessment is conducted frequently and in an ongoing manner during learning and is intended to give teachers and students precise and timely information so that instruc- tion can be adjusted in response to individual students’ strengths and needs, and students can adjust their learning strategies or set different goals. This use of assessment differs from assessment of learning in that the information gathered is used for the specific pur- pose of helping students improve while they are still gaining knowledge and practising skills. When assessment is viewed as integral to learning, students are engaged as collaborative partners in the learning process.
Formative assessment is used to provide benchmarks to confirm the suitability of instruc- tional strategies and specific interventions for individual students as well as groups of students. A gap analysis can be performed on the basis of these benchmarks to guide reflection on past practice and aid in making sound decisions about future instruction.
Figure 6 provides examples of tools and measures of diagnostic and formative assessment. (Note that this is not an exhaustive list of commonly used assessments.)
Figure 6. Examples of Diagnostic and Formative Assessment Tools and Measures