The Formative Purpose: Assessment Must First Promote Learning

By Paul Black, Dylan Wiliam *. Teachers College Record, 2004

206 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The work described in this paper started with a review of the literature on formative assessment (Black & Wiliam, 1998a). That review presents evidence from more than 250 articles by researchers from several countries that helped us to establish three main points. First, there is strong and rigorous evidence that improving formative assessment can raise standards of students’ performance. There have been few initiatives in education with such a strong body of evidence to support a claim to raise standards. The second point concerns the quality of current classroom assessment practices in schools. Here again, the published evidence from classroom research gave a clear and positive answer: the assessment methods that teachers use are not effective in promoting good learning; marking and grading practices tend to emphasize competition

Subfields: Education

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Citations in the corpus

Leading Data Use in Schools: Organizational Conditions and Practices at the School and District Levels (2010, background): “A review of more than 250 studies by Black and Wiliam (2004) is frequently cited as the primary source of the claim that formative assessment, in Popham’s words, “can fundamentally transform the way a teacher teaches” (2008, p. vii). Given that conclusion, the contemporary emphasis on use of evidenc”
Teaching Mathematics for Understanding: An Analysis of Lessons Submitted by Teachers Seeking NBPTS Certification (2009, background): “In recent years, there has been a growing interest in examining teachers’ classroom assessment practices (e.g., Black & Wiliam, 2004).”
What Is Assessment for Learning (2011, background): “The justification for each of the components of the definition can be found in Black and Wiliam (2009) and Wiliam (2010), and explorations of how formative assessment relates to other theoretical perspectives on teaching and learning can be found in Black and Wiliam (2004, 2011) and Wiliam (2007).”
Queensland teachers’ conceptions of assessment: The impact of policy priorities on teacher attitudes (2011, unknown): “Recent reports, however, provide evidence of the positive consequences of national testing (e.g., Black & Wiliam, 2004; Cizek, 2001; Monfils et al., 2004) and also of teachers being aware of the link between accountability pressures and educational improvement (Hamilton et al., 2007).”
Integrating Assessment with Learning: What Will It Take to Make It Work? (2007, background): “…for purposes of selection and certification, or for evaluation, is conducted through teacher judgment, external assessments, or some combination of the two, classroom assessment must first be designed to support learning (see Black & Wiliam, 2004b, for a more detailed argument on this point).”
On the Impact of Curriculum-Embedded Formative Assessment on Learning: A Collaboration between Curriculum and Assessment Developers (2008, methodology): “Embedded assessments are intended to focus teaching and learning on the goals of the curriculum and provide feedback to students as to how to close the gap in their knowledge between what they know and what they need to know (e.g., Black & Wiliam, 2004a, 2004b ).”
Unintended Consequences of using Tests to Improve Learning: How Improvement-Oriented Resources Heighten Conceptions of Assessment as School Accountability (2009, background): “However, it is now being reported that not only are positive consequences from national testing occurring (e.g., Black & Wiliam, 2004; Cizek, 2001; Monfils et al., 2004), but that teachers are also aware that accountability pressures can and do lead to educational improvement (Hamilton et al.,…”
Linking Formative Assessment to Scaffolding (2005, background): “In a recent study of new formative assessment practices, Black and Wiliam (2004) provided an example of the power of new norms:”
Formative assessment: Caveat emptor (2005, background): “In more recent work, based on their famous review, Black and Wiliam (2004) and Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, and Wiliam (2003) have demonstrated directly the positive impact of using formative assessment as an instructional intervention, with an average gain in achievement across classrooms of…”
Indeterminacy in the use of preset criteria for assessment and grading (2009, unknown): “However, research on the impact of providing a grade only, specific feedback only, or both, shows that there may be differential effects according to contextual factors (Black & Wiliam, 2004).”
Understanding Formative Assessment Insights from Learning Theory and Measurement Theory (2013, background): “Given insights into students’ thinking, a teacher is in a position to counter mis conceptions and steer learning back on track through feedback or instructional modifications (Black & Wiliam, 2004).”