Chapter 6: Formative Assessment The term “formative assessment” does not singularly mean a test or a measurement. Assessment becomes formative when it results in useful reflections and changes to the course of teaching, learning, or both. The term “feedback loops” emphasizes that measurement is only part of the process. Feedback loops that lead to instructional improvement— including adaptations in teaching and learning—yield the strongest outcomes for students. We also use “feedback loops” as a plural term because there are many types and levels of loops that are important. Students can benefit from feedback when they work individually, as a member of a small group, or in a classroom discussion. Feedback loops are valuable “in the moment”—for example, as a student practices a skill. Further, feedback loops are valuable when they cover larger spans of effort and reflections, such as at the end of presenting a project or term paper. In addition, feedback loops can assist teachers, for example, helping them notice their own patterns of responding to students’ ideas. Moreover, feedback loops are critical to the continuous improvement of products and the implementation of programs. Due to the importance of feedback loops, formative assessment could be a leading area for schools’ explorations of powerful uses of AI in teaching and learning. Educators can build upon alignments between their long-standing visions for formative assessment and the emerging capabilities that AI holds. Further, the professional assessment community brings a toolkit for asking and answering questions about topics like bias and fairness. The psychometric toolkit of methods is a strong start toward the questions that must be asked and answered because it already contains ways to measure bias and fairness and, more generally, to benchmark the quality of formative assessments. 65 | P a g e
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