As more students have access to computers in K-12 classrooms each year, teachers are turning more often to those devices for the age-old practice of conducting formative assessment.
A 2016 Education Week Research Center survey found that 83 percent of district or school leaders said their teachers were using one or more digital tools for conducting formative assessments during the 2015-16 school year. Of that group, 32 percent reported general success with the tools, and 45 percent said they had mixed results.
That could be because 鈥攊n which teachers use small checks of students鈥� understanding of material, then adjust their pedagogy accordingly and evaluate again鈥攄oes not require digital tools in the first place.
But the appeal of using technology to monitor and track students鈥� progress鈥攁nd give them an opportunity to answer newer item types like those they see on the computer-based, summative tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards鈥攊s gaining traction. And more digital tools in the hands of teachers for formative assessment translate into more investment on the part of schools.
In fact, classroom assessments, including formative and other kinds that are not state-mandated, represent nearly a $1.6 billion market this year, compared with the almost $1.3 billion that will be spent for state-mandated tests. Expected to grow by 30 percent through 2020, the classroom-based sector is the fastest-growing of the two. That number includes the cost of the professional development provided during the implementation stage, according to an analysis by Emerging Strategy, a market-intelligence firm.
The biggest change driving these numbers is the fact that digital purchases in the classroom-assessment market are often displacing print, said Robert Lytle, a managing director and a co-leader of the education practice at Parthenon-EY, Ernst & Young LLP, a business that provides consulting services to K-12 schools and the companies that sell to them. 鈥淎 lot of classroom assessments are easier to do if they鈥檙e taken in digital format,鈥� he said. Beyond that, educators can have the 鈥渄ata crunching鈥� done for them by the technology.
鈥淭his is the heart of teaching and learning,鈥� observed Lytle, so districts tend to be 鈥減retty sophisticated buyers鈥� of assessment software and 鈥渧ery sophisticated鈥� in their understanding of how to drive implementation to make sure it actually works.
Big State Investments
In North Carolina, for instance, 477,000 elementary children now have access to a formative-diagnostic-assessment system from Amplify to support the state鈥檚 commitment to ensure that all students will read by the 3rd grade. It鈥檚 a software program that has been increasing its reach since 2010, as the state has rolled it out.
鈥淭he great thing about it is that you can look at those K-3 scores and see that they align well with how the students do on the [state] end-of-grade exams at the end of 3rd grade,鈥� said Carolyn Guthrie, North Carolina鈥檚 director of K-3 literacy.
The state chose Amplify so it can administer DIBELS, or Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, a rudimentary assessment for early reading intervention, and TRC, or Text 69传媒 and Comprehension, which measures how the students apply foundational skills as they are reading authentic text. During this time, the teacher listens, using an iPad to record what the child is doing. That data generates immediate reports for teachers.
In the Orange County, Fla., public schools, an assessment platform built by Performance Matters gives teachers鈥攁lone or in professional learning groups鈥攖he option of creating formative-assessment items and tracking student outcomes. If they don鈥檛 want to write their own questions, they can draw from an item bank purchased from Progress Testing or other vendors.
鈥淲e like using the banks as exemplars,鈥� said Brandon McKelvey, the associate superintendent of research, accountability, and grants. Once they are trained in how to use the platform, teachers might save 20 percent to 25 percent of their lesson-planning time each week, he estimated.
Boston鈥檚 Adoption
The Boston district recently selected two companies to provide a formative-assessment platform and an item bank, after 12 responded to a request for proposals. The district chose Measured Progress for its item bank to generate interim assessments and, as needed, formative assessments, and Illuminate Education for the platform, which is an online tool where formative assessments can be built and administered and data can be captured and analyzed from multiple sources.
After a series of district- and school-based professional development sessions, the formative-assessment program is getting strong adoption with the teachers, said Michael Rubino, the formative-assessment manager in Boston.
鈥淎ssessment is a small piece of what the platform can do,鈥� he said, 鈥淚n between benchmarks, teachers and school leaders are using the platform to monitor progress data, including reading levels and unit-level assessments.鈥� Both quantitative and qualitative formative assessments can be tracked on the platform, including daily exit tickets, informal conversations teachers have with students, and qualitative notes. By using built-in web-scanning software, the system can also pull data from paper-and-pencil tests and capture students鈥� written work.
The idea of formative assessment has been around for more than 40 years, said Kathy Dyer, a senior professional-development specialist for the Northwest Evaluation Association. 鈥淏ut it does feel like the acceptance and understanding of it, fueled by digital tools, is on the uptake.鈥�
About a year ago, Dyer teachers use in the classroom and recently updated the list to indicate that some of them are no longer around鈥攂ut the list is growing.
One of the things that makes the tools and apps 鈥渟o valuable and attractive is that they have visually vibrant displays, and they鈥檙e giving instant feedback.鈥� Besides that, she said, 鈥渁 lot of them are fun,鈥� and it鈥檚 not just teachers getting information about evidence of learning; the learners are as well.
