false formatives

True Formative Assessment Model (TFAM) & Guidance Phases

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This is an update to my 2024 presentation and assessment model reflecting insights from a continued review of classroom assessment and grading literature, findings from a new pilot study, and a novel framing of the formative assessment process I call Guidance Phases. Here’s a summary of the updates:

  • A few literature sources removed; many new ones added
  • The labeling and categorizing of assessments that mix characteristics has been abandoned to keep the focus on avoiding false formatives and incorporating more true formatives.
  • Rather than a characteristic, the role of self-assessment has been expanded to fall under Guidance Phases as part of the feedback cycle; it no longer appears in the Venn diagram.
  • Assessments, themselves, cannot be formative or summative. It is the use that determines one or the other. Therefore, I’ve clarified that the terms “formative” and “summative” in this model refer to characteristics. For example, a true formative is an assessment used in a formative way as seen through its associated characteristics (and not other characteristics associated with a summative use).

True Formative Assessment Model (TFAM)
This is the name of my model using a Venn diagram to show the intersection of assessment characteristics associated with formative and summative uses:

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False Formatives

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Click here for the updated model and latest research.

I just presented a poster session in Chicago for the NCME Special Conference on Classroom Assessment (Piantaggini, 2024). While I had some rough details for a proposed dissertation study, the focus of discussion with scholars who stopped by was my new assessment model and the theoretical framework that brought me to it. The message I got was “I think you’re onto something,” so I’m sharing my work here to get more eyes on it. Please contact me with any embarrassingly scathing criticism. Otherwise, reply publicly with any other thoughts or questions. After all, this is my blog, not peer review!

So, in this blog post, I’ll describe the model you see above, and how I got there, starting with a major dilemma I identified when reviewing literature on classroom assessment: confusion over grading formative assessments…

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Current Reading: Retakes—When They Do And Don’t Make Sense

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My recent review of assessment has continued, which now includes two major findings:

  1. Grading is a summative function (i.e., formative assessments should not be graded).
    (Black et al., 2004; Black & Wiliam, 1998; Bloom, 1968; Boston, 2002; Brookhart, 2004; Chen & Bonner, 2017; Dixson & Worrell, 2016; Frisbie & Waltman, 1992; Koenka & Anderman, 2019; Hughes, 2011; O’Connor et al., 2018; O’Connor & Wormeli, 2011; Peters & Buckmiller, 2014; Reedy, 1995; Sadler, 1989; Shepard et al., 2018; Shepard, 2019; Townsley, 2022)
  2. Findings from an overwhelming number of researchers spanning 120 years suggest that grades hinder learning (re: reliability issues, ineffectiveness compared to feedback, or other negative associations).
    (Black et al., 2004; Black & Wiliam, 1998; Brimi, 2011; Brookhart et al, 2016; Butler & Nisan, 1986; Butler, 1987; Cardelle & Corno, 1981; Cizek et al., 1996; Crooks, 1933; Crooks, 1988; Dewey, 1903; Elawar & Corno, 1985; Ferguson, 2013; Guberman, 2021; Harlen, 2005; Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Johnson, 1911; Koenka et al., 2021; Koenka, 2022; Kohn, 2011; Lichty, & Retallick, 2017; Mandouit & Hattie, 2023; McLaughlin, 1992; Meyer, 1908; Newton et al., 2020; O’Connor et al., 2018; Page, 1958; Rugg, 1918; Peters & Buckmiller, 2014; Shepard et al., 2018; Shepard, 2019; Starch, 1913; Steward & White, 1976; Stiggins, 1994; Tannock, 2015; Wisniewski et al., 2020)

In other words, 1) any assessment that a teacher grades automatically becomes summative, even if they call it “formative” (I’m referring to these as false formatives), and perhaps more importantly, 2) grades get in the way of learning. These findings suggest that best way to support learning is by a) limiting grading to only true summative assessments given at the end of the grading period (e.g., quarter, trimester, semester, academic year), and b) using alternatives to grading formative assessments that otherwise effectively make them summative. Therefore, my next stage of reviewing literature focuses on reducing summative grading and exploring formative grading alternatives (i.e., so they remain formative). As for now, one of those practices *might* be retakes, which has been on my mind ever since I saw a tweet from @JoeFeldman. Given the findings above, which establish a theoretical framework to study grading, let’s take a look at how retakes are used now, and how they could be used in the future, if we even need them at all…

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