Formative

Self expression & acting

Formative

Formative assessment takes place during the learning process – to assist teachers to ‘form’ the future direction of student learning. It is a cycle of continuous feedback that allows a teacher to evaluate their impact and move student learning forward. It works alongside a clearly defined set of challenging learning intentions. Formative assessment reflects Assessment Principle 1 (assessment should be an integral part of teaching and learning), and Assessment Principle 2 (assessment should be educative).

Formative assessment can take many forms. It can be informal (eg. a discussion), formal (eg. a written test), immediate (eg. thumbs up/thumbs down feedback from students), or planned in advance (eg. a diagnostic text).

At WLPS, teachers value the use of multiple forms of formative assessment in their classrooms. Such assessment provides them with information about what is to be learned, how learning is progressing and what students need to learn next. This information can be used to define learning intentions, to identify gaps or misconceptions and to design targeted lessons or units of work. Ultimately, engaging in a constant formative assessment cycle empowers them to provide quality differentiated teaching practice.

Teachers also use system and school-based assessment data formatively – to develop intensive teaching and learning emphases to target identified areas for development. Examples of such assessments include, but are not limited to:

  • NAPLAN
  • Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) in maths, English (reading and vocabulary skills), science and social & emotional learning
  • Words Their Way Inventories (to diagnose individual student needs), and
  • ‘Cold Tasks and Hot tasks’ in Talk 4 Writing

‘Datahub’ is the cloud-based platform used by the school to store and analyse assessment data and to track student progression.