ESL Best Practices Quick Reference Guide:

Formative Assessment
Overview
Formative assessment is a continuous process integrated into daily instruction What is Formative
that provides information about student progress towards learning goals. It Assessment?
“Formative assessment is a planned,
helps teachers identify where students are in their learning so they can provide ongoing process used by all students
“just right” instruction, scaffolds, and supports to move learning forward. and teachers during learning and
Feedback from formative assessment can also support student agency, helping teaching to elicit and use evidence of
student learning to improve student
them become more active, self-regulating, and independent learners. As such, it understanding of intended learning
is a critical lever for improving student learning and a key component of a outcomes and support students to
become self-directed learners”
comprehensive assessment system that incorporates information about student Source: CCSSO, 2018 (p.2)
learning from a variety of sources and assessment types (diagnostic, summative,
interim/benchmarks, etc.). Thus, formative assessment practices are foundational to supporting English learners
and implementing high-quality ESL instruction regardless of context or ESL instructional delivery approach.

Elements of Effective Formative Assessment to Support ESL Instruction

 Clear language learning goals and success criteria that integrate academic, social, and
instructional language within the context of content area topics and analytical practices
(aligned to the WIDA English Language Standards and MA Curriculum Frameworks).
 Student understanding and agreement with learning goals and success criteria.
 Carefully planned and sequenced learning activities as well as dynamic, in-the-moment
methods for gathering evidence of learning related to language goals and success criteria.
 Language samples and/or performance gathered during the lesson through various formal
and informal methods as evidence of learning.
 Teachers and students interpreting evidence gathered to determine where students are in
relation to learning goals and success criteria and to identify gaps in learning.
 Teachers and students providing feedback linked to learning goals and success criteria that
provides students information for how to improve.
 Teachers and students taking action to promote new learning and closing identified gaps.

Challenges Opportunities
 Competing priorities for effective use of instructional time  Leveraging formative assessment to promote student learning
 Lack of use of formative assessment data to inform instruction  Drawing from students’ full language resources (first language
 English learners not involved in formative assessment and English) to formatively assess language learning
 Mismatching between formative assessment goals and  Establishing classroom cultures that support formative
methods assessment also builds stronger learning environments

Strategies and Best Practices

To support effective formative assessment, educators across low, mid, and high-incidence districts can:
 Incorporate formative assessment as part of a larger classroom system of assessment (such as the one
proposed in the Next Generation ESL Assessment Framework) to leverage assessment as, for and of learning.
 Gather formative assessment evidence of student learning and progress across all dimensions of language
use (discourse, sentence, and word/phrase levels) and language domains (or modes of communication:
listening, speaking, writing, reading, representing, and viewing).
 Develop an understanding of how students develop language resources across languages (primary and
English) based on sound theories of second language acquisition. This understanding of language learning
 progressions and skills set of emergent bilinguals is essential for developing appropriate learning goals,
selection of language to formatively assess, and drive feedback to students.
 Calibrate learning goals and success criteria to students’ English language proficiency levels and provide
appropriate scaffolds and supports. The WIDA ELD Standards Framework 2020 Edition Proficiency Level
Descriptors can be used as a starting point for calibrating learning goals.
 Ensure formative assessment strategies clearly identify students’ current language abilities in relation to
established learning goals and success criteria. Carefully design formative assessments so all students,
regardless of English language proficiency level, can demonstrate their learning.
 Provide descriptive feedback that students can use to improve
their learning/meet identified gaps. Ensure feedback is timely,
clear, and specifically connected to language learning goals and
success criteria.
 Foster a collaborative, trusting, and psychologically safe
classroom culture where students can take risks with language,
and teachers and students are partners in learning.
 Provide multiple and extended interactive activities along with
appropriate scaffolds and supports that allow students to Adapted from Heritage, 2010; Cook & White,
showcase their thinking and language competence. 2010; Hattie & Timperley, 2007
 Teach and model a growth mindset that supports using
evidence for improvement. Involve students in the formative assessment process (co-developing learning
goals and success criteria, assessing instruction as well as student learning, through peer and self-
assessment, etc.).
 Provide opportunities for students to use
Using Self-Assessment for Language Learning feedback to improve their language knowledge and
 Define criteria students will use to assess their work abilities shortly after feedback is provided.
 Teach students how to apply criteria
 Give students feedback on self-assessment  Strategically follow up on evidence gathered from
 Help students use self-assessment data to improve self-assessment through a variety of pedagogical
 Provide enough time for revisions or further practice moves (questioning students further to better
after self-assessment understand difficulties, helping students clarify
 Do not turn self-assessment into self-evaluation by
counting it towards a final grade their thinking and resolve misunderstandings,
Adapted from Ross, 2006 and Jamrus & Razali, 2019
adjusting ongoing activities or future lessons,
adapting, or removing current scaffolds and
supports, providing additional direct instruction,
etc.).

Suggestions for Low, Middle and High-Incidence Districts

Formative assessment is an essential component of effective teaching of English learners, whether they serve
small or large numbers of English. Below are some additional considerations for implementing practices and
strategies outlined above:
 Educators in low and mid-incidence districts can start small, with a firm foundation. Incorporate formative
assessment as part of instructional priorities for the whole school. Focus on developing educator capacity to
implement formative assessment practices with teachers who currently teach English learners. From there,
provide professional learning about formative assessment incrementally to all other educators who may
eventually teach English learners.
 Educators in high incidence districts can develop strategies for managing assessment data sets for large
groups of students. Invest in databases, software, and related professional learning to help educators
combine, disaggregate, review, and act on relevant classroom-level formative assessment data.
Actions-at-a-Glance
Actions For Classroom Educators
 Use information from formative assessment as well as established English language proficiency
benchmarks and WIDA English Language Development Standards to drive future learning rather than to
evaluate student performance and tell students about ways formative assessment data is used to improve
instruction.
 Teach students strategies for giving and receiving feedback well, selecting new tactics, acting on feedback,
and monitoring their progress in relation to language goals.
 Adjust instruction, scaffolds and/or supports based on evidence from formative assessment.
 Build on English learners’ social and emotional competencies, and explicitly support further social and
emotional development to sustain this type of classroom culture.
 Provide frequent feedback about language learning that is tailored to students’ needs (not too complex
nor too vague) and actionable, providing suggestions for how to improve rather than the correct answer.
 Allow for multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression and provide scaffolds and
supports as part of formative assessments.
 Leverage students’ first/home language during the formative assessment process (to ensure students
understand learning goals and success criteria, to elicit information about students thinking and source of
challenges, translated peer and self-assessment rubrics, etc.) - especially useful for students at earlier
English language proficiency levels and students with interrupted or limited formal education (SLIFE).
 Use a variety of strategies to gather evidence of learning and focus on gathering evidence of language
learning over time (such as through portfolios).

Actions For School and District Leaders

 Provide professional learning opportunities focused on formative assessment as well as on and how to
develop and implement valid and reliable assessments for English learners.
 Highlight the value of formative assessment and establish regular times and processes for analyzing
formative and other English learner performance/work data (collaborative planning time for educators
who share English learners, designated time during scheduled meetings, etc.).
 Invest in infrastructure (new software or data management tools, retooling existing data management
systems, etc.) and resources (professional development, staff, etc.) to support data-informed formative
assessment processes.
 Learn about and promote ways to disaggregate, analyze and present data in ways that support asset-
based approaches, rather than deficit thinking.

Instructional Planning Resources

DESE Practical Tools and Resources
Next Generation ESL Model Curriculum Units present examples of formative assessment activities and strategies
for gauging English learners’ language development and using this information to inform ESL instruction.
Next Generation ESL Unit and Lesson Planning Tools and Resources incorporate formative assessment practices
as an important component of ESL curriculum development.

DESE Guidance
Culturally Relevant and Critical Consciousness Frameworks provide guidance for culturally relevant teaching and
leading, including specific look fors related to supporting learners in the development of academic proficiency
and academic identity in service of academic achievement as well as related student and teacher outcomes,
actions, and dispositions.
Massachusetts Blueprint for English Learner Success and related Blueprint for English Learner Success Quick
Reference Guides present essential conditions and actions educators can take to provide equitable experiences
and outcomes for English learners (for connections to formative assessment, see Pillar 1, Building Block 3: Asset
Based Approaches).
Next Generation Assessment Framework highlights formative assessment as an essential practice to promote
effective ESL instruction.

Federal Resources
The Association between Teachers’ Use of Formative Assessment Practices and Students’ Use of Self-Regulated
Learning Strategies examines the association between teachers’ formative assessment practices and
participation in formative assessment trainings and students’ use of self-regulation strategies. The findings (p. 5-
10) can help school and district leaders decide how to systematically roll out formative assessment–centered
professional learning opportunities for teachers.
Supporting Students’ Independent Learning with Self-Assessment Strategies promotes the benefits of student
self-assessment and contains links to resources focused on strategies for developing students’ capacity to self-
assess.

Other Featured Resources

A Strategy for Giving Corrective Feedback for ELLs explains how to use sentence frames and explicit feedback to
support English learners’ development.
Balanced Assessment Framework provides guidance teachers can use to improve their continuum of assessment
practices, including refining purpose of assessments and how to use data from each assessment type to improve
student achievement.
Building Blocks, Learning Goals, and Success Criteria: Planning Instruction and Formative Assessment for K-8
Math Standards and Building Blocks, Learning Goals and Success Criteria: Planning Instruction and Formative
Assessment for K-12 ELA and Literacy Standards assist teachers in establishing key components for lesson
planning and formative assessment based on standards. This process, with some adaptations, could be used for
developing ESL lesson plans based on the WIDA ELD Standards Framework 202 Edition and the Massachusetts
Curriculum Frameworks.
California English Language Development/ELA Standards Chapter 8: Assessment defines formative assessment
and presents effective strategies and examples (see pages 824-834) as well as ideas for involving students in the
assessment process (p.845-849) and measuring progress in language development (p. 850-857).
EL Formative Assessment Checklist for Distance Learning: 10 Considerations for EL Formative Assessments for
Distance Learning provides ten research-based considerations to help reflect on current practices and discover
new strategies for developing effective assessments for ELs during distance learning.
Focusing Formative Assessment on the Needs of English Learners explains how formative assessment can
enhance the teaching and learning of English learners, ideas about summative assessment of English learners
that can inform effective formative assessment practices, and opportunities and challenges inherent in
integrating formative assessment into instruction for English learners in the context of standards-based
instruction.
Formative Assessment (WIDA Focus Bulletin) defines formative assessment and key steps and provides guidance
for focusing formative assessment on language development (see pages 3-5).
Formative Assessment as Contingent Teaching and Learning discusses classroom centered practices of formative
assessment and how they can be used to support contingent teaching and learning for English learners.
Formative Assessment for ELLs provides ideas of formative assessments for English learners.
Formative Assessment: Examples of Practice provides vignettes with brief examples and counterexamples of
formative assessment as well as extended examples of formative assessment practice, including teacher and
student actions in relation to one or more of the attributes of formative assessment practice. Vignettes are
taken from teacher observations conducted in a variety of schools across the U.S. and illustrate formative
assessment practice across a range of grade levels and content areas.
High Leverage Principles of Effective Instruction for English Language Learners presents steps, guiding prompts,
and ideas for leveraging formative assessment to support English learners’ language development and academic
achievement (Principle 5, p. 33-42) as well as an annotated example illustrating these ideas (p. 43-47) and
relevant resources (p. 53-54).
How to Build a Balanced Assessment System provides guidance for integrating formative assessment into a
larger system of classroom assessment.
Lesson Revision: Improving Lesson Plans with Formative Assessment and College and Career Ready Standards
provides a process teachers can use to revise existing lesson plans so that they incorporate the formative
assessment process and align with standards (see Evidence Analysis Gathering Tool, p. 27, Formative
Assessment Lesson Framework, p. 28 and examples of what that framework could look like, p. 8).
Progress Monitoring Language Development Through Formative Assessment presents a definition of formative
assessment and strategies for each stage of the formative assessment process (see slides 34-52).
Quality Student Interactions: Why Are They Crucial to Language Learning and How Can We Support Them?
provides a rationale for the essential role of social interactions for students, describes quality student
interactions and ways to make them happen, and provides a classroom vignette illustrating them.
Stepping Stones to Formative Assessment presents guiding questions and a rubric for planning and evaluating
formative assessment practices at the classroom and school levels.
Students Use the Formative Assessment Feedback Loop provides an example of how a teacher incorporated
formative assessment in his classroom, including the effective strategies he used.
Understanding Formative Assessment defines formative assessment and includes a description of the key
features of formative assessment, summary of concepts in learning and measurement theory that are central to
effective formative assessment, a summary of concepts in measurement theory that are central to effective
formative assessment a brief review of research summaries on the effect of formative assessment on student
learning.
Formative Assessments: Using Feedback to Guide Instruction showcases how an educator uses formative
assessment to gather data, provide feedback to students, and adapt instruction. The example is from a middle
school science classroom but can be helpful to ESL educators as well.
Using Self-Assessment as a Tool for English Language Learning provides recommendations for building English
learners’ capacity to self-assess their language learning and move it forward.
Using the Formative Assessment Rubrics, Reflection and Observation Tools to Support Professional Reflection on
Practice provides a set of rubrics and tools to support self-reflection and peer observation connected to general
formative assessment strategies that teachers should employ. These can be used within the context of school-
based professional development, with formal or informal groups of teachers, or by individuals who are
interested in improving formative assessment practice.

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