Diagnosis as formative assessment
· 2 min read
Some assessments sum up what a student has learned. Formative assessment is different: its purpose is to shape what happens next.
What the research found
Black and Wiliam’s review of classroom research found several studies in which efforts to strengthen the frequent feedback students get about their learning, the heart of formative assessment, led to gains in learning.
This review is about classroom assessment in general, not about SubjectPath.
Feedback needs to be specific
A score says how a student did. Feedback that shapes what happens next can say something more specific: which idea is missing, or which misconception is getting in the way.
How SubjectPath applies this idea
SubjectPath is designed to turn a diagnostic into a starting point rather than a verdict. Each wrong answer choice is tagged to a specific misconception, the diagnostic traces a student’s answers back to the skill where understanding breaks down, and practice starts there. Skill checks along the way show whether each new skill is in place before the next one opens.
Formative is about use
The same question can serve a formative or a summative purpose. What makes an assessment formative is what happens next: its results shape the next step in learning, rather than only recording how a student did. A diagnostic is formative when its result is a starting point for practice.
Where a diagnostic fits
In SubjectPath, the diagnostic comes first and points to the skill where understanding breaks down. Lessons and skill checks follow, and each skill check checks whether a skill is in place before the next one opens. The diagnostic starts the cycle, and the skill checks keep it going.
Source
- Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7–74.