Formative assessment can be used to ascertain children’s learning and understanding, to identify misconceptions and to explore children’s mathematical thinking. It is a valuable tool to inform planning to ensure that teaching is appropriate to children’s needs.
Formative assessment can be gained in many ways from using large group checklists of observations made during teaching right through to structured, scripted activity-based one-to-one assessments.
We consider these two types, but they should not be considered exclusive/definitive and can be adapted/extended for your individual needs
1- Observational assessments supported with a checklist or description of concepts/strategies under review
These assessments are best suited to give a broad picture of the class understanding of a topic or concept and to identify areas of misconception, either for specific children or for specific concepts or topics. What is recorded is up to the observer, they can detail what the children are or are not doing and their current understanding or they can be used to record minimal information, in which case they are quickly gathered and easy to review to give an instant overview of understanding. The observations can be conducted during whole class teaching/group time, during small group times and during continuous provision.
Whole class teaching example: a teacher may be leading a whole-class session on subitising. At the start, they show groups of 5 dots in familiar patterns and asks the children to show that many fingers. The teacher is interested to know who can perceptually subitise to 5. Either the teacher or a supporting adult has a class list of the children’s names so that they can annotate it with the children’s understandings. They may note the strategies that the children used or the mistakes they made and when they occurred. They may consider the time it took for the children to answer, how they mirrored the patterns with their fingers or how they waited and followed the other children’s cues. Alternatively, the teacher may choose to use a very simple annotation such as: a tick against the children’s names if they confidently answered each question, an asterix against the names of children who were inconsistent, hesitant or slow to respond and no mark against the names of the children if they were consistently mistaken. This activity would be repeated until all children were observed, the teacher is then able to review the annotated list of children’s names and alter their teaching accordingly, as well as pinpoint children who might be having difficulties in this area.
Advantages: Provides a whole class picture; does not require much additional planning/organisation; prompts consideration of all children; quick and easy once part of established routine; can be done during whole class teaching/carpet time, small group teaching or continuous provision.
Disadvantages: if asking a supporting adult to help with the recording it requires them to understand what needs to be observed (NB eventually this would become an advantage as it ensures that the adult understands the learning intentions associated with the teaching).
Note: typically, assessment 1 covers the majority of the associated learning trajectory.
2 – Structured activity-based assessment (with and without scripts and suggested child responses)
This type of assessment is structured to look at particular concepts/topics in more detail and may be supportive in identifying why some children appear ‘stuck’ or unable to grasp new concepts.
These planned teaching activities are designed to consider specific learning intentions and while children engage with them, their current achievements can be captured. They are designed to look at areas outlined in the Learning Trajectories and/or key concepts that children need to master in order to become fluent within the topic under consideration. Typically, these assessments are carried out individually or with small groups so the children’s strategies and mathematical thinking can be captured.
The observer asks the child(ren) to perform a specific activity, observes how they perform it and asks them to explain their findings. Each assessment is carefully designed to give the observer an insight into children’s thinking and possible misconceptions. The assessments are scripted in order to support objective assessment so that results are comparable and reliable.
Individual child assessment example: a teacher or TA shows a child a dot card with 4 dots arranged in a square and asks the child how many. The child responds 4 and the teacher/TA asks ‘how did you know that?’ The child replies ‘1-2-3-4 – I counted in my head’ . The TA records this result. The TA repeats with different dot cards, recording the response, then repeats the process with the next child.
Advantages: Gives accurate detailed information about each child; allows child to be focussed on task in hand; ensures consistent approach and more accurate results.
Disadvantages: Time consuming; needs care to ensure it is an enjoyable and playful process; needs care to ensure that it does not appear exclusionary i.e. its best to avoid removing individual children from class for assessments.
Some versions of this type of assessment include scripts and possible child responses, this is to support objectivity and speed up analysis. If you only have three or four options for responses, the teacher can quickly see who has mastered the concept or strategy, who has some pre-skills and who requires substantially more support.
