Author Description

Effective classroom formative assessment helps educators make minute-by-minute, day-by-day instructional decisions, but putting it into practice requires both a robust collection of techniques and an understanding of how to use them. In Embedding Formative Assessment, authors Dylan Wiliam and Siobhan Leahy deliver a clear, practical guide for teachers, centred on the five key strategies for improving teacher practice and student achievement: 1) Clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions and success criteria; 2) Engineering productive discussion and activities that elicit evidence of learning; 3) Providing feedback that moves learners forward; 4) Activating students as learning resources for each other; and 5) Activating students as owners of their own learning. Then, for each strategy, the authors provide an overview of the strategy and a number of very practical formative assessment techniques for implementing it in F-12 classrooms. Along with guidance on when and how to use the specific techniques, they provide tips, cautions and enhancements to sustain formative assessment. A student reflection form, peer observation form and self-reflection checklist accompany each strategy. No known practice is more effective than classroom formative assessment for producing a significant positive impact on student achievement. Wiliam and Leahy provide the necessary tips and techniques to put it into practice immediately.