Enhancing Student Learning Create profound achievement gains throughformative assessments. 
ByRick Stiggins and JanChappuis 

January 2008 

Inrecent years, we educators have expanded our thinking about what the assessment process cando;we have moved beyond using it simplyto judge and grade achievement to using it to make changes inteaching that willlead to greaterlearning. We have come to refer to this as formative assessment. As this use ofassessment has grown inrecent years, it has takenon many labels: benchmark, common, shortcycle,
 and interim assessment. Whenused formatively, assessments help students growrather than merely holding themaccountable for their learning. However, in formative assessment as 
traditionallyconceived, it is the teacher whose informationneeds are met. Auseful analogy is to view it as a "globalpositioning system" for teachers to use to find out where students are nowso theycanadjust instructionto get themto the next levelof learning. 
What's missing fromthis conception is anacknowledgment that students are crucial decisionmakers too, and that formative assessment must also meet their information needs. 

Enlightening Students 

The assessment information is about the students,yet oftenwe have overlooked the controltheyhave over their ownlearning. We have neglected the fact that students can benefit froma globalpositioning systemtoo. When formative assessment is cast as a tool for studentsto use, educators call it "assessment for learning," as explained ina book we coauthoredwithothers, 
ClassroomAssessment for Student Learning: Doing It RightUsing It 
Well. 

Bothformative assessment and assessment for learning are intended to provide informationearlyenough inthe decisionmaking processto 
influence student learning. 
As traditionallyconceived, formative assessment helps teachers groupstudents more effectivelyand select appropriate instructional interventions. The teacher uses the assessment information. However, the litmus test ofaneffective assessment for learning is that it informs students about their own learning, helping themfocus their learning energies where theyare likelyto be most effective. So formative assessment enlightens 
the teacher, while assessment for learning enlightens the student. 

Formative assessments tend to focus onacademic achievement standards, providing results that revealwhichstandards students are orare not mastering. Byidentifying this 
information, formative assessments help teachers refine instructionalprograms inways 
that enhance student success. However, assessment for learning doesn't ask who is and isn't meeting standards. Rather, it asks how eachstudent is doing onher or his journeyup the scaffolding leading to eachstandard. It provides this informationto students interms 


that theycanunderstand, inorder to support their decision making throughlevels of 
proficiencyleading to success. 

Student SelfAssessment 


Formative assessment, as commonlyused, provides evidence ofstudent learning more frequentlythandoes annual, largescale summative testingeveryfew weeks, 
for 
example. It has become popular inpart because annualtesting occurs far too infrequently to support learning at alevelofprecisionthat is possible withperiodic formative assessment. Besides, it canfunctionwellfor the teacher as informationto be used for 
course correction. Onthe other hand, assessment for learning keeps students and their 
teachers intouchwithunderstanding and achievement ona continuous basis, allowing themto knowwhat specific actions theycantaketo improve the learning everyday. For 
example, teachers canuse assessment information ondaytodaylearning targets 
as 
feedback to students, pointing out what theyhave mastered and what theystillneed to workon. Students canthenbeginto selfassess, 
mirroring the processtheir teachers have used ingiving feedback. 

Intraditionalformative assessment contexts,teachers conduct the assessments, keep records, and track student progress. But inassessment for learning classrooms, we understand that whenstudents selfassess 
regularly and track and share their progress, 
their confidence inthemselves as learners and their motivationto do wellgrows along withtheir rising achievement. 

Formative assessments help teachers refine instructionalprograms inways that enhance 
student success. 

When formative assessments informtimelydecisions, arise fromhighquality achievement 
standards, relyonaccurate assessments, and provide results that are communicated effectively, theycanenhance student learning. However, research conducted around the world over the past two decades, including researchabout the powerof feedback recentlypublished in Review of EducationalResearch, reveals that whenassessment meets students' informationneedswhenstudents 
are informed about the learning targets fromthe beginning, engage in selfassessment, 
keep track ofand regularlyreflect ontheir owngrowth, and playa role incommunicating their learningthe achievement gains 
are profound, especiallyfor low achievers. 

Taking Responsibility 

Inother words, while formative assessment as traditionallydefined cancontribute to effective instruction, it is the practice ofassessment for learning that wields the proven powerto help a whole new generationofstudentstake responsibility for their own learning, become lifelong learners, and achieve at much higher levels. When administrators give teachers the opportunityto learnthe keys to effective use of 
assessment informationand encourage these practices daily inthe classroom, the result 


willbe profound gains inachievement for allstudents, withthe largest gains accruing for 
perenniallow achievers. Teachers who seek this willfollow these steps: 

At the outset of instruction, make sure students have a clear, solid visionofthe learning targetsthat theyare responsible for achieving. 

Provide everystudent withcontinuous access to accurate descriptive feedback that relates 
directlyto the intended learning targets, pointing out boththe strengths and weaknesses, 
or areasthat need improvement. 

Help students learnto engage inselfassessment and goalsetting, to practice identifying their ownstrengths and areas for improvement. 

Provide instructionthat helps students improve the qualityoftheir workone keyattribute at atime, understanding that, ultimately, theymust put allthe pieces together. 

Teachstudents to keep track oftheir achievement onspecific learning targetsand to reflect regularlyontheir growthso theydevelop a strong sense ofacademic selfsufficiency. 


Withthese strategies, we develop instudents a visionofwhat good worklooks like from the beginning ofthe learning process, anunderstanding ofwhere theyare at anygiven point inrelationto that standard ofexcellence, and a repertoire ofactions for closing the gap betweenthe two. This is assessment for learning. 

Rick Stiggins is executive directorofthe Assessment Training Institute, and Jan Chappuis is anauthor and educationsolutions consultant with ATI. For more information, go to ETI's Website, www.ets.org.