Page 34 - 2024_Journal_90-3

Gauging Student Progress: The Need for

Daily Formative Assessment

By Shannon A. Manley, Sara L. Avrit, and Bailie N. Antwiler

Assessment drives instruction. Teachers need an effective procedure for determining students’ learning
and mastery of a concept or skill daily. Formative assessment meets this demand. It is designed to
take place during instruction while learning is occurring. Formative assessments supply teachers with
needed methods to monitor students’ learning through a deliberate and intentional process. During
the assessment process, teachers provide affirming and corrective feedback to clarify or correct any
misunderstandings. The authors argue that formative assessment should be implemented as a daily
practice in classrooms given its value in collecting data and effectiveness in driving instruction.

n classrooms, assessment occurs daily. Assessments can take a variety of forms
Iand exist to serve a variety of purposes (Huber & Skedsmo, 2016). Teachers
can gain valuable information from the assessments they use in their classrooms.
Assessments provide teachers with data that help them draw conclusions regarding
what students have learned (Black & Wiliam, 2018). Assessments can both inform
teachers of what students have learned as well as inform them on what the next
instructional steps should be (Moss & Brookhart, 2019). The relationship between
what teachers are teaching and what students are learning is complex. Because
students do not always master the concepts being taught, teachers need a method
to collect and analyze data related to student learning (Black & Wiliam, 2018).
Formative assessment provides teachers with a way to monitor continuously the
progress students are making through intentional evidence collection (Yan et al.,
2021). Some examples of formative assessments that may be used include bell
ringers, student response cards, and exit slips (Conderman et al., 2020). The role of
formative assessment is to provide students and teachers valuable information that
identifies their level of understanding on a specific concept.
Data from empirical research have shown the effectiveness of using formative
assessments in the classroom as these tools relate to student growth in learning
standards. DeLuca et al. (2016) explained there has been an adjustment in the
desired format of assessment practices in the classroom since 2000 due to educators
developing their assessment competencies. Teachers should use formative
assessment to collect data on student learning and guide their daily instructional
practices (DeLuca et al., 2016). The successful use of formative assessments leads to
higher student achievement (Andersson & Palm, 2018; Hondrich et al., 2016). Even
with years of research-supported evidence, such achievement is not seen in every
classroom, possibly because teachers do not fully understand and utilize formative
assessments (Hayward, 2015). We argue teachers should implement formative
assessment as a daily practice given its value in collecting data and effectiveness in
driving instruction.

Formative Assessment Drives Instruction
Of the many decisions teachers make daily in their classrooms, those regarding
instructional strategies and assessing the learning of their students are some of the
most important. These decisions drive instruction. Teachers must find a balance
between the assessment measures they use. The two primary assessment types

32 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators