Different data lenses

Diagnostic, formative, summative, and portfolio- and performance-based assessments hold equal importance for determining student growth. We can use them together, as each set of data offers a different lens into students’ learning styles and acquisition of skills. Here’s how the assessments are used.

Diagnostic assessments are tests or check-ins done at the beginning of a lesson or unit. These can come in any form—entrance tickets, quick checks, verbal dialogue, wipe-off paddle boards and Post-it notes, among others. They determine where students are in the learning process. Teachers can offer a diagnostic assessment days prior to a lesson to analyze the data and determine the path for instruction.
Formative assessments are similar to diagnostic assessments, but implementation occurs during the lesson or unit. Formative assessments also come in various forms, and it is necessary to evaluate them. Keep in mind that if your formative assessments bore you, they will bore students.
Formative assessments may present themselves as flipbooks, posters, charts, dioramas, trioramas, vocabulary quilts, math wheels, oral reports, PowerPoint presentations, surveys and questionnaires for self-reflection. When you check in with your students, provide an answer and ask them to use backward design to arrive at the question.Or, ask students to find multiple pathways to a specific idea or mathematical sum. Whatever the method, always make sure that students show what they know, and that teachers analyze the data to determine students’ understanding and the next steps in differentiating instruction.

Read: Are your teachers data literate?

Instant Insights /

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