3 Formats for Formative Assessment in Inclusive Classrooms

This week I used Google Scholar to find an article about inclusive classroom assessment. After searching through recent journal articles that were fully available online, I found one that stood out to me: “Formative Assessment Made Easy: Templates for Collecting Daily Data in Inclusive Classroomrs” by Kyena E. Cornelius (doctoral candidate, Department of Special Education, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.), published in October 13, 2014.  I accessed it on SAGE Journals, on April 19, 2017.

As I work towards my teaching certification, one aspect I have been considering is exactly how I am going to take data for each student everyday in a meaningful way, without making extra work for myself.  I don’t want to cut corners, but I also want to make sure I am making the best use of my time.  I can see how this is just as important in an inclusive classroom, for helping students make progress towards their IEP goals.

The argument could be made that formative assessment should drive instruction.  Research cited in the article I read mentioned that formative assessment increases outcomes for various sub groups of students, including those with learning differences.  The research also mentions that formative assessment “enriches learning and promotes deeper understanding of core content.”

Teachers should be focused on gearing instruction towards students needs, which is what formative assessment should be measuring. 

The research also mentions that this formative assessment should be taking place daily in the classroom, but without reliable and valid assessments, a lot of effort could be wasted.

The article provides three formats for collecting student data:

1.     Anecdotal Seating Chart

2.     Daily Scorecard

3.     Objectives Grid

It’s suggested that each tool should be created by the teacher and kept on a clipboard.

I really like this idea.  Last week I presented one of my first lessons in another class, and although the lesson went really well, I felt like I didn’t have a lot to do while the “students” were working.  Of course, the students were adults so they didn’t need much help.  That aside, it made me realize that I had planned the lesson well enough that it allowed me to do some observing as a teacher, and that would have been a great time to be taking data and notes while the students worked. The article also brings up the point of how to manage collecting data with a co-teacher, which is a great point.  While one teacher is asking a question to the class, the other can quickly jot down some notes.

The anecdotal seating chart (figure 1) is my favorite because it seems to be the easiest, fastest and most flexible option.  I can definitely see myself using this method of formative assessment in the future.  I think it would also be useful for recording other important information that might be important, like attendance or if a student leaves early.  Notes can also be taken about grouping configurations, how students converse and the ways they work together.  This way the information is also easily accessed and referenced. 

Figure 1:

 

The second format, daily scorecard (figure 2), appears more structured but also very helpful.  Having the columns labeled in such a way is a great way to take more specific notes and also record what a student may have missed or needs more help with. This format is also conducive for recording more objective data.

Figure 2:

 

The third format, the objectives grid (figure 3) is even more detailed, specific and data driven.  I can see how when used all together, these three formats are relatively easy and very effective. This seems best for recording progress on students’ specific goals.

Figure 3:

I would be curious to see actual data on how using these templates to inform instruction impact students performance in an inclusive classroom.

Formative Assessment in Inclusive Classrooms

There are only a few weeks left in my first semester in the Early Grades Preparation Program at West Chester.  I feel like I have achieved some significant milestones, like teaching my first lesson to a classroom full of teachers and authoring my first exam based on a chapter in a textbook.  Although I have learned so much, I feel like there is still so much more I have to learn.  I feel as though there are many aspects of teaching that are easily understood and completed in a controlled classroom or demonstrated well in a textbook, that do not translate easily into real life scenarios.  One of those aspects being testing accommodations.  

After writing my own test for the first time, I now understand that there are many accommodations that can be built into the test as it's being written.  I think it's important to look at all aspects of the classroom in this way and consider what simple changes can be made to make things easier on the student, reduce stress, and still gain important information about their true knowledge and understanding.  More importantly, what can be done in the classroom environment to make sure that students who learn differently feel comfortable and accepted, so that they can express their creativity and their ideas? I worry about having a student who is struggling, or having difficulties that they don't feel comfortable talking about, or that I can't identify easily.  Even if their struggles are easy to identify, it may not be clear how to help that student.  Maybe that's why I'm eager to learn as much as I can, hoping that with more tools in my toolbox, I can better appropriately accommodate any needs a student might have.  

From my own personal experience, having many positive experiences at school has changed my life. I've worked with students and talked to adults who haven't had many positive experiences at school, and I see how that shapes the way that they view themselves. I do believe that one great teacher can open a student's eyes to their own potential and abilities, and one of the best ways to do that is making sure the classroom lessons are reaching a student at their level by providing them the accommodations that they need. 

I think frequent, authentic formative assessment is a great way to identify what it is that a student is having difficulty with and from there, different methods can be employed to try to correct this mismatch of information.  But, the formative assessment has to be getting at a student's true knowledge, just like any other assessment would. For a student who has difficulty retrieving, decoding, or manipulating information, formative assessments could be a little tricky, since they are often done quickly in the classroom. 

In the first youtube video that I watched, Formative Assessment in Inclusive Classrooms, provided by QUIO Quipped Interactive Learning Tools Inc., Faye Brownlie discusses the positive impact formative assessment has had on Inclusive Classrooms in Canada.  She mentions that using clear language, and having transparent learning goals in the classroom, that relate directly to formative assessment, can make learning easier for students.  

To me, it seems that even though formative assessment differs from objective testing, approaching it with the same mindset may have benefits for students.  I also think that having pre-planned questions and knowing which level they are could be helpful to achieve a more meaningful formative assessment of student knowledge.  Of course, there is room for flexibility, but the structure allows a teacher to really plan the question ahead of time and make it the best that it can be. I've noticed in my own experience of writing test questions (which I'll admit is very limited), higher level thinking questions usually take time and don't always come off the cuff on the first try like a lower-level thinking question can. 

I think that building accommodations into a lesson like this, by pre-planning formative assessment and making it as clear as possible, is a great way to access students in an inclusive classroom.  If a teacher can address a students need before it's even identified as a need, isn't that the best teaching practice? If there are simple additions or a little extra work that can take place in the planning process that will make the lesson more meaningful to students, isn't that worth it? I know as a teacher, I would rather put in the work before a lesson rather than after the lesson, wondering how I can re-teach something in order to make sure each student understands.  Of course, it won't always happen that way, but I think it's important to consider how all types of assessments are approached and plan as much as possible. 

Pinterest Resources for Inclusive Classroom Assessment

I turned to Pinterest too see what resources there were for Inclusive classroom assessments.  I immediately liked the resources that popped up and followed this one, which took me to a blog called Mrs. McFadden’s Classroom Community.

Her website had a lot of great resources, but I really liked this one by Luminous Learning. It is a friendly reminder of various ways a teacher can easily accommodate a student in an inclusive classroom during assessments. The advice given here is easily adapted and scaffolded, making it manageable for a classroom teacher.  I would probably keep this by my desk as a teacher as a helpful reminder.

I like how specific yet simple it is and that it’s organized based on subject, but also includes a section for organization.  I think for students in an inclusive classroom, accommodations should take place during the exam, but also need to be present before.  Often students do poorly on an exam because they didn’t have the planning skills in place to properly prepare.  Building in organizational accommodations would be beneficial for all students in an inclusive classroom. Using strategies like color coding and a checklist would be really helpful for students in an inclusive classroom.

Another resource that I found on Pinterest was “10 Tips for Grading Students with Disabilities in the Inclusive Classroom” posted on the blog, The Inclusive Class.  Just like accommodations need to be in place to prepare for an exam, they also need to be in place afterwards.  Grading could perhaps be tricky, since students in an inclusive classroom need to be held to the same standards as all other students. Although this resource disagrees, I think that with proper accommodations, students in an inclusive classroom should be able to reach this standards with proper scaffolding.

This resource breaks students down into groups based on those who are working at grade level and below grade level.  Considering what we learned in class about Grade Equivalent Scores on standardized testing, I wonder how this grouping is determined and if it’s the most effective way of grouping students.  I don’t think so, and even if it is, I wouldn’t want to use these terms to describe the groups. 

This resource mentions that inclusive classrooms teach to the level of the student.  I thought that was all classrooms? How will students learn if a teacher isn’t teaching at their level?

Reading further I see that certain states even have modified standards for students on modified programs.  I’m sure if it exists, there are reasons, but I can’ help but be very skeptical of this.  When it comes to accommodating students in inclusive classrooms, more emphasis should be placed on how to reach the standards and the quality of these standards, not necessarily the level of them.  If all students in 2^nd grade need to be working on a skill, then students in an inclusive classroom need to be working on that skill.