Formative Assessment Example

This is an example of a Formative Assessment written for a teacher on a Directed Growth plan.

Progress on Goals

Student Learning Goal / By December 1, 2012, whenever asked about the content objective for the day, an average of 95% of students will be able to explain the objective, what they are learning, and why; they will be able to demonstrate evidence of their learning through their notebook entries and student work (class and homework tasks, quizzes, and exams).
Rating / Did Not Meet
Rationale / Mr. X has been rated as Did Not Meet because he has not demonstrated sufficient progress towards reaching his identified Student Learning Goal.
When asked about the content objective for the day, less than 95% of students were able to explain the objective, what they were learning, and why. In addition, I did not observe a significant number of students demonstrating their understanding on the class assignments. Consequently, Mr. X made insufficient progress toward this goal.
Evidence 1 (from artifact/observation):During my visit on October 19, 33% of students were able to explain the objective, what they were learning, and why.
Evidence 2 (from artifact/observation):During my visit on November 28, only one out of six students I spoke with was able to explain the objective and demonstrate understanding.
Evidence 3: During each of my visits, Mr. X used whole-class instruction for the mini lesson but did not regularly use cold calling strategies. Mr. X also didn’t use dip sticking techniques during the mini lesson. As a result, he had insufficient information about the extent of student understanding and wasn’t strategic about structuring groups or pairings during the independent work time. I did not observe any use of the techniques from the Skillful Teacher or Teach Liker a Champion even though I recommended these as resources.
Professional Practice Goal / In order to ensure that all students are engaged in every lesson, Mr. X will develop and deliver lessons that explicitly build understanding of the big ideas and essential concepts, and provide opportunities for students to process their thinking individually and with one another. Progress will be monitored by observation of student conversations, conference notes, student notebook entries, and work products.
Rating / Did Not Meet
Rationale / Mr. X submitted the Workshop model lesson plan template however his plans lack specificity in critical elements of the lesson. Mr. X was supposed to submit his lessons for the week on Monday of each week, however he was inconsistent with this requirement. Most weeks he did not submit lessons.
Evidence 1 (from artifact/observation):Mr. X submitted a full week of lesson plans on time 3 out of 10 weeks. For the week of October 22, Mr. X submitted a full week of lessons on October 30. For the other weeks, Mr. X submitted lesson than the required number of days and there are a couple of weeks when he submitted nothing. The last lesson plan submitted was on November 28.
Evidence 2 (from artifact/observation):Mr. X uses the Workshop model lesson template however the lesson elements are not rigorously designed. There is an essential question and reference to standards but no connection between the essential questions and how the mini lesson or the independent practice activities are designed and executed. The objectives are mostly procedural (i.e., find the distance and midpoint between two points on a coordinate plane and write equations of circles given the center and a point on the circle). The mini lessons consist of one or two bullets such as: “Review hw, “Have a student who remembers composition of functions explain the process with guided assistance.” Mini lessons should include the teaching of key terms and vocabulary and instruction of content. It ought to answer the question, How will I deliver the lesson to help my students answer the essential question? On October 19, he received feedback about how to improve his lessons (see artifacts). However, I have not seen evidence that Mr. X has applied this feedback.
Evidence 3: During my visits on October 19 and November 28th, I did not observe Mr. X using techniques or strategies or executing activities that required students to process their thinking individually or with other students. In each case, the task was a worksheet and the students practiced procedures and did not engage in questions requiring critical thinking or reasoning.

Performance on Standards

Standard / 1. Curriculum, Planning, and Assessment
Rating / Needs Improvement
Rationale / As described by the Needs Improvement level of element I-A-4. Well-Structured Lessons, Mr. X does not develop well-structured lessons with challenging, measurable objectives, and lessons have only some elements of appropriate student engagement strategies, pacing, sequence, activities, materials, resources, technologies, and groupings.
Evidence 1:Mr. X has demonstrated evidence of planning but does not consistently develop lessons as evidenced by the many days on which he did not submit lesson plans as requested.
Evidence 2:Mr. X does not consistently develop lessons that are based on rigorous content and language objectives and designed to maximize student engagement in tasks that require critical thinking and reasoning. The objectives in Mr. X’s lessons are primarily procedural and do not contain opportunities for students to explain, model, or present their thinking and conceptual understanding.
Evidence 3:Mr. X allows students to work in groups but does not effectively use grouping and pairing structures to differentiate what happens during independent work time. On October 22, I met with Mr. X and recommended he use “Clock Buddies” as a grouping strategy. I sent him the template along with instructions on how to use it and told him to invite me to his class so that I could model its use with students. Mr. X didn’t use the technique and never invited me in to his class.
Mr. X does not regularly use dip sticking techniques and strategies to check for student understanding. He doesn’t anticipate and develop activities to address confusion and misconceptions. Instead he assigns a worksheet to everyone and then circulates around to individual students. I have explained that this practice isn’t efficient or effective because it’s impossible for him to make it around to each student. The period ends with students confused and no time for an exit ticket or summary/wrap up. As a result, students leave the class without making progress toward learning the lesson objective.
Area for Growth (optional):
1.Mr. X must submit daily lesson plans for the upcoming week to his supervisor by noon each Thursday; supervisor will give written and/or oral feedback. Plans must include accommodations/modifications for students with IEPs and English Language Learners.
2.Seek out professional development in areas related to these indicators. Among top priorities are: purposeful planning, and outcome-based content and language objectives.
3.Read the attached excerpt from The Skillful Teacher: Chapter 9 - Clarity (p.161-219). With your supervisor, identify high-leverage practices and develop an action plan to initiate consistent implementation.
4.Starting in February 2013, fully implement the instructional practices identified at the school’s August PD (August 27-30, 2012).

Prescription (only necessary if rating on standard is Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement)

Indicator / Problem Statement / Evidence Statement / Prescription Statement
I-A-4. Well-Structured Lessons / See rationale. / See rationale. /
  1. Mr. X must submit daily lesson plans for the upcoming week to his supervisor by noon each Thursday; supervisor will give written and/or oral feedback. Plans must include accommodations/modifications for students with IEPs and English Language Learners.
  2. Seek out professional development in areas related to these indicators. Among top priorities are: purposeful planning, and outcome-based content and language objectives.
  3. Read the attached excerpt from The Skillful Teacher: Chapter 9 - Clarity (p.161-219). With your supervisor, identify high-leverage practices and develop an action plan to initiate consistent implementation.
  4. Starting in February 2013, fully implement the instructional practices identified at the school’s August PD (August 27-30, 2012).

Standard / II. Teaching All Students
Rating / Unsatisfactory
Rationale / Mr. X does not consistently use instructional practices that differentiated and were likely to motivate and engage most students, including struggling learners and those with disabilities, in the lesson.
Evidence 1: During each of my visits, Mr. X used whole-class instruction for the mini lesson but did not regularly use cold calling strategies. Mr. X also didn’t use dip sticking techniques during the mini lesson. As a result, he had insufficient information about the extent of student understanding and wasn’t strategic about structuring groups or pairings during the independent work time. I did not observe any use of the techniques from the Skillful Teacher or Teach Like a Champion even though I recommended these as resources.
Evidence 2:During my visit on October 19, 33% of students were able to explain the objective, what they were learning, and why.
Evidence 3: On October 22, Mr. X and one of his students met with me because the student accused Mr. X of not helping her in class. She said he tells students to work with a partner but her partner wasn’t in class so she had no one to work with and was confused about the content. After this meeting, I suggested that Mr. X use a structured format for assigning partners and make sure students are clear about the content before asking them to work in pairs. Mr. Williams did not follow through with using the strategy I suggested. When I observed on November 28, Mr. X was still using informal groups or pairs, passed out a worksheet without making sure most students were clear about what had been covered in the mini lesson.
Area for Growth (optional):
  1. Mr. X needs to use strategies to engage all students in the learning. He needs to conduct small group instruction during the independent work time. He will use the various learning modalities of his students to engage them in the lesson. He will use strategies such as "Turn and Talk", "Think Pair Share" to encourage engagement.
  2. Mr. X needs to schedule time to work with the Literacy Coach during the week. In addition, Mr. X should visit classrooms at the school to observe the Literacy Block.
  3. Mr. X should also enroll in the professional development literacy offered by the Literacy Department.

Prescription (only necessary if rating on standard is Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement)

Indicator / Problem Statement / Evidence Statement / Prescription Statement
II-A-2. Student Engagement / See rationale. / See rationale. /
  1. Mr. X needs to use strategies to engage all students in the learning. He needs to conduct small group instruction during the independent work time. He will use the various learning modalities of his students to engage them in the lesson. He will use strategies such as "Turn and Talk", "Think Pair Share" to encourage engagement.
  2. Mr. X needs to schedule time to work with the Literacy Coach during the week. In addition, Mr. X should visit classrooms at the school to observe the Literacy Block. Mr.
  3. X should also enroll in the professional development literacy offered by the Literacy Department.

Standard / III. Family & Community Engagement
Rating / Needs Improvement
Rationale / Mr. X has not provided evidence that he uses a variety of strategies to support every family to participate actively and appropriately in the classroom and school community.
Evidence 1:Mr. X attended Open House as required.
Evidence 2:On October 27, I emailed Mr. X to request that he upload artifacts for standards I, III, and IV. He did not upload any evidence.
Area for Growth (optional):
  1. Mr. X is required to contact parents of students with poor attendance, poor on-time arrival rates, and poor performance (Ds or Fs). He should log all parental/guardian contact in the journal feature of Aspen.

Prescription (only necessary if rating on standard is Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement)

Indicator / Problem Statement / Evidence Statement / Prescription Statement
III-A-1. Parent/Family Engagement / See rationale. / See rationale. /
  1. Mr. X is required to contact parents of students with poor attendance, poor on-time arrival rates, and poor performance (Ds or Fs). He should log all parental/guardian contact in the journal feature of Aspen.

Standard / IV. Professional Culture
Rating / Needs Improvement
Rationale / Claim: Mr. X consistently attends department and grade-level meetings. However, Mr. X is not using Evidence Based Argumentation techniques with his students even though this is a focus of the work for the 11/12th grade team. Mr. X does not consistently fulfill is professional responsibilities and isn’t consistently punctual and reliable with paperwork, duties and assignments.
Evidence 1:Attendance records for CPT and after school PD show that Mr. X is present.
Evidence 2:I have not seen reference to any EBA strategies or techniques in lesson plans. I have seen the execution of EBA techniques or strategies during observations (Oct. 19 and Nov. 28).
Evidence 3: On October 27, I emailed Mr. X to request that he upload artifacts for standards I, III, and IV. He did not upload any evidence. Mr. X has missed deadlines and scheduled meetings with the headmaster. He submitted his self-assessment after the deadline of October 1 and didn’t show up for his post-conference meeting on December 10. Submitted his five days of sub plans after the deadline. He also failed to follow up with me to co-teach a pairing strategy as instructed (discussion on Oct. 22).
Area for Growth (optional):
  1. Work with math department colleagues (Mr. A and Mr. B) to plan lessons that incorporate Evidence Based Analysis strategies. I should see EBA reflected in the lesson plans you submit.
  2. Mr. X must consistently fulfill his professional responsibilities. This includes on-time submission of paperwork, attendance at meetings as requested, and follow up with the headmaster or other administrator as requested. If Mr. X is unable to attend a meeting or isn’t able to meet a deadline, then he must reach out to communicate with an administrator ahead of time.

Prescription (only necessary if rating on standard is Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement)

Indicator / Problem Statement / Evidence Statement / Prescription Statement
IV-C-1. Professional Collaboration, IV-F-2. Reliability and Responsibility / See rationale. / See rationale. /
  1. Work with math department colleagues (Mr. A and Mr. B) to plan lessons that incorporate Evidence Based Analysis strategies. I should see EBA reflected in the lesson plans you submit.
  2. Mr. X must consistently fulfill his professional responsibilities. This includes on-time submission of paperwork, attendance at meetings as requested, and follow up with the headmaster or other administrator as requested. If Mr. X is unable to attend a meeting or isn’t able to meet a deadline, then he must reach out to communicate with headmaster or other administrator ahead of time.

Comments(optional):

Overall Rating

Rating
Exemplary, Proficient, Needs Improvement, or Unsatisfactory / Needs Improvement

1