Using formative assessments to strengthen instructional practice

As Guskey’s research indicated, successful classroom assessments “serve as meaningful sources of information for teachers, helping them identify what they taught well and what they need to work on.”  And “when as many as half the students in a class answer a clear question incorrectly or fail to meet a particular criterion, it’s not a student learning problem – it’s a teaching problem.”

Through their rigorous research, Black and Wiliam proposed that formative assessments, in which classroom evidence is used to adapt the teaching to meet student needs, is the best way to improve student achievement.  Similarly, in the study of effective teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong, they found that among the key factors that separated “highly successful teachers” from the general teaching population was that highly successful teachers used assessments as feedback about their teaching rather than about student learning.

How then do teachers best learn to use formative assessments to modify and improve their instruction?  Through their PLCs.  Rather than relying on more traditional approaches such as purchased assessment packages or using the workshop approach for assessment design strategies, “developing assessment competencies requires that people rethink both what they do now and what beliefs led them to adopt those practices.  It requires that they make decisions about what to give up and retool.  The workshop model of professional development cannot offer the support needed for such changes.” (Stiggins and Chappuis)  Yet PLCs and similar collaborative teams “reach their ultimate goal of changing classroom assessment practices in specific ways that benefit students.”

“Our teachers are meeting in PLCs but we aren’t seeing any real changes in classroom practices.”

The first step is to break the cycle of teachers as independent operators.

It is the start of a new school year and teachers are independently working in their rooms putting up bulletin boards, planning classroom procedures, writing up grading policies and developing lessons plans.  The challenge is that the procedures, policies and instructional practices of Teacher A may have little on no resemblance to those of Teacher B across the hall.  As a result, students bounce from class to class trying to navigate a maze of different routines rather than focusing on what they need to learn.   This fractured approach may work well for the teachers, but it rarely gives students enough practice with any one strategy, skill, routine, approach, or procedure to become expert at it.

The second step is to think deeply about what works best for students.

Stepping into the shoes of students for a moment and thinking about what works and what doesn’t work within and across classrooms can be the catalyst for changing from a culture of “me” to a culture of “we.”  Looking at the school day, classroom practices, and teaching styles through the lens of students casts a new light on how students experience school and can help teachers to think “bigger” than the walls of their own classrooms.

I was fortunate enough to spend time at Hoover High School in San Diego where the faculty has made this transition to the benefit of teachers and students alike. Much of what I witnessed and learned at Hoover (documented in this article for Principal Leadership) can serve as a model for other schools embarking on the PLC journey.

The third step is to use PLCs to work collaboratively on behalf of students.

I was struck by how a few simple changes by the faculty to implement consistent procedures across classes had a tremendous impact on student learning, in particular for struggling students and English language learners for whom “navigating the maze” was particularly challenging.  One example is the agreement by all teachers to use a consistent format and structure for note taking (Cornell Notes), enabling students to focus on what each teacher wants them to learn rather than how to take notes in each classroom.  A relatively simple change for the teachers had tremendous benefit for the students and helped move the school culture from “me” to “we”, making subsequent changes that much easier.

If you have other examples of where collaborative changes by the faculty have had a great impact on student learning, please share them in the comments section below!

The vision for collaborative learning communities is clear, yet many schools and districts struggle to make that PLC vision a reality.

Through nearly ten years of working with districts and schools, TeachFirst has identified five consistent obstacles to effective PLCs:

• Obstacle I: Developing the Instructional Leadership skills needed for leading a PLC school. School leaders who, despite their best efforts, currently lack the instructional leadership skills have to create and sustain the conditions needed to transform schools into learning organizations.

• Obstacle II: Creating Collaborative Cultures to overcome the resistors in all schools. School-based professional learning requires changing the status quo and shifting from a culture of “me” to “we.” School leaders who do not address these cultural barriers up-front struggle to gain the buy in to move their faculty through the required change process.

• Obstacle III: Fostering the PLC Facilitation Skills of teacher-leaders. Effectively facilitating a PLC of one’s peers is a learned skill  — one that is very different than teaching children.  Developing PLC facilitation skills is the key to developing school-based capacity for continuous improvement, yet is often overlooked or under supported during the PLC implementation process.

• Obstacle IV: Providing Instructional Content designed to be used within PLCs so time focuses on instructional improvement.  If we ask teachers to take ownership for their professional growth and don’t provide them with the tools and resources to do so successfully, then they are likely to give up and return to business as usual.  These tools and resources need to be designed for use by collaborative teams and teachers need to be trained in how to use the resources effectively and efficiently.

• Obstacle V: Lack of Transparency into the Impact on Classroom Instruction. Many districts have fought hard to carve precious time out of the school day to support PLC work, yet have no transparency into exactly how that time is being used within each PLC and whether or not it is resulting in changes in classroom instruction.

Unlike workshops, “PLC Summits” or “Parades of Experts”, our model focuses on the daily work required to address these challenges and make the vision of PLCs a reality in each school.  The result is PLCs that foster the consistent transfer of instructional practices into classrooms to meet the needs of all students.

If your schools may be facing any of the challenges outlined above and you’d like greater insight into both the challenges and potential solutions, please contact us at info@teachfirst.com.