EFFECTS OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

SYNOPSIS FOR RESEARCH PROJECT

B.Ed. (1.5 Year Program)

Aamir Shabbir

Roll Number : B J 6 5 8 8 0 8

Registration Number : 16 — PMB --- 01830

SUPERVISOR

Sir Nasrullah Khan Niazi

& Sir Tanweer Ahmed

Tutors , AIOU Regional campus

M.B.DIN
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page No.

1- INRODUCTION 1- 2

2- STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 3

3- AIMS & OBJECTIVES 3

4- SIGNIFICANCE 3

5- LIMITATIONS 3

6- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4

7- REFERENCES 4
INTRODUCTION

This thesis is about the effects of implementing theoretically sound formative assessment practices ,
and how students perceive these practices. Central to assessment competence is knowing how views
of learning impact the teaching and assessment choices one makes , and how these choices affect
fundamental principles of all assessment, namely transparency, reliability and validity. The
problematic nature of these principles in formative assessment is a key issue that will be discussed in
chapter 2. Assuming that feedback is instrumental to the process of becoming more adept at
communicating , providing quality feedback is one of the most important tasks of the teacher.
However, what constitutes quality feedback is difficult to define, and is largely a matter of preference,
though there is an abundance of response literature with ‘best practice’ recommendations on how to
provide feedback. This makes it all the more important to look at how teachers frame their responses,
what they focus on, and how students perceive the response, in order to discuss the effects of
formative assessment.

Many countries have been trying to make modifications in their assessment policy and practice to
improve students’ learning and educational outcomes. These modifications are often evident in
national policy statements and guidelines for professional development related to assessment focus.
As the Ministry argues, teacher/student interactions should involve discussion of goals, strategies,
progress, and should develop peer and self-assessment skills that lead to students becoming
autonomous learners. Following this, they propose that ideal teacher formative feedback helps
students reach the desired outcomes and criteria of success through the planning of teaching strategies
and assessment criteria that match students[1]

The primary and secondary school effectiveness research does suggest that the practices associated
with formative assessment can, under the right conditions, facilitate learning. However, these effects
may vary markedly across implementations of the multiplicity of practices that fall under current
definitions of formative assessment, as well as across subpopulations of students [2]

Assessment for learning is an important aspect of education in secondary schools.Are pupils learning
enough, and learning it well in secondary school classrooms – and how can we tell? Can schools and
teachers not only measure the progress made by pupils, but also identify their learning needs and
respond to them? Effective assessment is needed to provide effective answers to all these critical
questions. Tests and examinations as highly visible forms of tracking progress, known as “summative
assessment” are also used by parents and employers. But this is only part of the story. To be truly
effective, assessment should also be “formative” – in other words, identifying and responding to the
students’ learning needs. In classrooms featuring formative assessment, teachers make frequent,
interactive assessments of student understanding. This enables them to adjust their teaching to meet
individual student needs, and to better help all students to reach high standards. Teachers also actively
involve students in the process, helping them to develop skills that enable them to learn better. Many
teachers incorporate aspects of formative assessment into their teaching, but it is less common to find
it practised systematically. If formative assessment is used as a framework for teaching, teachers
change the way they interact with students, how they set up learning situations and guide students
toward learning goals, even how they define student success. Several countries promote formative
assessment as a fundamental approach to education reform. This including policy principles to
address barriers to formative assessment and encourage its wider application.

In the Pakistan, formative assessments increase student academic success, countries in terms of
graduation rates. These outcomes have left educators, administrators, and policymakers searching for
more effective methods of improving student achievement. The topic of formative assessment has
garnered a great deal of interest among the national and international education community. Although
past research has shown formative assessment to have a positive effect on student achievement , it can
be a 2 time-intensive endeavor. However, the recent interest in formative assessment has spurred the
development of many online formative assessment programs designed to take some of the burden off
the shoulders of instructors, allowing students to benefit from formative assessment without adding
another time-intensive task to the instructor’s already busy schedule. Whereas it is exciting to see
these types of educational innovations, it is also important to monitor how these tools function in
terms of student outcomes. Research at the Gates’ Foundation has suggested that an ideal scenario is
one in which, “formative assessments are embedded in the curriculum and actually guide the design
of the summative assessments; the two forms of assessment should be intertwined”[3] A logical next
step then would be to ask the question: Does the practice of formative assessment in the classroom
affect student performance on summative assessments? This thesis attempts to answer that question.

Formative assessment is broadly including all activities of teachers and students in secondary schools
like teacher observation, classroom discussion, and analysis of student work, including homework and
tests. Assessments become formative when the information is used to adapt teaching and learning to
meet student needs. When teachers know how students are progressing and where they are having
trouble, they can use this information to make necessary instructional adjustments, such as reteaching,
trying alternative instructional approaches, or offering more opportunities for practice. These
activities can lead to improved student success. Feedback given as part of formative assessment helps
learners become aware of any gaps that exist between their desired goal and their current knowledge,
understanding, or skill and guides them through actions necessary to obtain the goal. The most helpful
type of feedback on tests and homework provides specific comments about errors and specific
suggestions for improvement and encourages students to focus their attention thoughtfully on the task
rather than on simply getting the right answer. This type of feedback may be particularly helpful to
lower achieving students because it emphasizes that students can improve as a result of effort rather
than be doomed to low achievement due to some presumed lack of innate ability. Formative
assessment helps support the expectation that all children can learn to high levels and counteracts the
cycle in which students attribute poor performance to lack of ability and therefore become
discouraged and unwilling to invest in further learning. While feedback generally originates from a
teacher, learners can also play an important role in formative assessment through self-evaluation. Two
experimental research studies have shown that students who understand the learning objectives and
assessment criteria and have opportunities to reflect on their work show greater improvement than
those who do not[4]. Students with learning disabilities who are taught to use self-monitoring
strategies related to their understanding of reading and writing tasks also show performance gains[5].
This study is designed to find out the impact of formative assessment on academic achievements of
secondary school students.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problem under investigation is to find out the positive as well as negatives effects of formative
assessment on on quality of education and academic achievements of secondary school students. One
of the major problems identified is poor assessment method adopted by many teachers in secondary
schools. More specifically, the research study attempts: To determine the features of formative
assessment that are more effective.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To find out the extent of the relationship of formative assessment
with academic achievements of secondary school students.

2. To find out the effect of formative assessment on academic achievements of secondary school
students.

3- To find formative assessment ways to keep students motivated and engaged in learning process

4- What are students’ perceptions of written feedback practices?

4- Do the results of this study provide rationale for changes to assessment and grading practices
within inclusive classrooms?

The aim of this initiative is also to inform teachers’ about fruitful assessment practices through giving
them more competence and understanding of assessment as a tool for learning.

SIGNIFICANCE
Feedback has been an important moderator[6]. Decline of quality of education is an issue coming up
frequently in Secondary schools of Pakistan. The issue became more prominent when it was noted
that the standard of education in Pakistan is deteriorating. This study provides data in considering the
current classroom assessment and grading practices of classroom teachers within the inclusive setting.
General classroom teachers are expected to meet the educational needs of all students within their
classrooms. This poses many challenges, frustrations, and dilemmas. The importance of classroom
assessment and grading techniques that are meaningful, appropriate, and useful is crucial in enhancing
learning for all students. By gaining a better understanding of the current extent to which regular
classroom educators utilized assessment principles that enhanced learning, this study provided
opportunities for increased professional development resources, support for more collaborative
educational practices, or future consideration of best practices to meet the needs of students.
DELIMITATIONS
The following delimitations restricted the scope of this study:

1. No considerations for differences b/w teachers and students, with respect to gender, considered.

2. Differences between community schools and regular schools are not considered.

3. Cultural differences between teachers and students are not considered.

4. Differences between students with a variety of special needs are not considered.

5. Survey feedback is limited to general classroom teachers.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Nature of the study was experimental. The study used a pretest/posttest control group design that
included the matching of participants prior to random assignment to control group and experimental
group. A major strength of this design was to ensure that the students’ varying levels of pretreatment
knowledge was evenly distributed between the two treatment groups, thus eliminating the possibility
of placing more participants into one group who already possessed a higher (or lower) level of
knowledge of the intended content. This was accomplished by first pre-testing all the participants,
then pairing the two highest scoring participants, and randomly assigning one to the control group and
the other to the experimental group. The next two highest scoring participants were then randomly
assigned to one of the treatment groups, and so on. [7][8] Interviews, observation and field notes are
other tools of data collection.

REFERENCES

1 3 Ibid., p. 8

2 (2010, p. 6)
3 (Fontana & Fernandes, 1994)
4 (McCurdy & Shapiro, 1992)
5 (Baker, Gersten, Haager, & Dingle, 2006)
6 (Bonner, 2013)

7 (Hargreaves et al., 2002; James & Pedder, 2006; Lukin et al., 2004; Stiggins, 2004, 2005; Stiggins
et al.1986; McMillan, 2001, 2007; Wiggins, 1990a, 1990b, 1993, 2003)

8 (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004)