Formative Assessment in

the Mathematics Classroom

Coding for the Core

 Assessment Card Sort
• Sort the descriptors into two categories
– Summative
– Formative
 Diagnostic: To
identify
preconceptions,
errors, types of
reasoning, and
learning difficulties

Summative: To
Formative: To
measure and
inform and provide
document the extent
feedback to
to which students
students on their
have achieved a
learning
learning target
 FACTS
Formative Assessment Classroom
Techniques

• Purposeful • Student-to-student
• Planned • Oral
• Often-spontaneous • Written
• Teacher-to-student
• Student-to-teacher
 FACT Layout
– Description
– How the FACT Promotes Student Learning
– How the FACT Informs Instruction
– Design and Administration
– General Implementation Attributes
• Ease of Use
• Time Demand
• Cognitive Demand
– Modifications
– Caveats
– Use with Other Disciplines
Uncovering Student Thinking
About Mathematics in the
Common Core
 Math Starters! 2nd Edition
• 5 to 10 Minute Activities Aligned with the
Common Core Math Standards
 #4 Card Sorts
• Students collaboratively sort a set of cards
with pictures, numbers, symbols, or words
according to a specific characteristic or
category.
– Based on preexisting knowledge about the
concept or procedure
– Discuss reasons for placing each card into a
designated group.
 #4 Card Sorts
• Proportional Reasoning Sort 7.RP.A.2
1. Sort cards into 2 piles: Proportional and Not
Proportional
2. Create two additional examples of each category
3. Choose 3 cards from Proportional pile – explain
how you know they belong.
4. Choose 3 cards from the Not Proportional pile -
explain how you know they belong.
• Teaching Idea: ask ss to develop a list of characteristics that could
be used to decide if a relationship is proportional. As ss share and
come to agreement, the teacher records and draws an example and
nonexample to further illustrate. Provide opportunity to regroup
cards using listed characteristics – add to list as needed.
 #4 Card Sorts
• Number Card Sort – 8.NS.A.1
1.Sort cards into 2 piles: Rational and
Irrational.
2.Create two additional examples of each
category.
3.Explain choice for 3 cards in Rational pile
4.Explain choice for 3 cards in Irrational pile
 Compare Card Sorts to….
• #8 Concept Attainment Cards
• #9 Concept Card Mapping
• #30 Matching Cards
• #49 Sequencing Cards
• #75 Word Sort

• Select one of these strategies and briefly

outline a topic you could use it with at your
grade level
 #11 Create the Problem

Students are given the solution and are

asked to figure out what the real-world
problem might be.
Another way to look at this…
An equation is like a newspaper
headline. Ask students to write stories to
go along with math headlines
(equations).
#11 Create the Problem
Solve the equation and write a word
problem that goes with it.
5 x 1.5 = n
 #36 Opposing Views Probes

These probes present two or more

characters with conflicting mathematical
ideas. Students are asked to pick the person
whom they most agree with and explain why.
 #36 Opposing Views Probes
Which friend do you agree with? Explain
why you agree. Provide evidence.

I think 1/4 is
I think π is an irrational
an irrational number.
number.
 #10 Concept Cartoon
• Cartoon characters’ comments include an
idea that is more mathematically
acceptable than the others as well as
alternative ideas based on common
misconceptions and errors.
• Ss decide which character in the cartoon
they agree with most and why.
#10 Concept Cartoon
 #10 Concept Cartoon

Why is the circle not invited to the Polygon Party?

What other shapes would be invited to the Polygon Party?
- Why
How do you is the
know circle
they not invited
would to the Polygon Party?
be invited?
Are there any other shapes who wouldn’t be invited? Who are they and why?
 #36 Opposing Views & #10
Concept Cartoons
• Compare with #19 Friendly Talk Probes

Brainstorm concepts you and think of at

your grade level for use with these FACTs?

How can you see these FACTs as part of

your math instruction?
 #2 Agreement Circles
• Kinesthetic way to activate thinking &
engage ss in discussing and defending
their mathematical ideas.
– Ss stand in circle
– Teacher reads statement
– Ss who agree step to center of circle
– Ss who disagree remain standing on outside
of circle.
– Small groups engage in discussion to defend
their thinking.
 #2 Agreement Circles
y = -3/5 x + 2 is a linear function

• If you agree with this statement step to

center of circle.
• If you disagree with or are unsure of this
statement remain on the outside of the
circle.
 #7 Commit & Toss

An anonymous elicitation technique used to

make students’ thinking visible to the class.
 #7 Commit & Toss
1. Students are given an assessment probe.

2. After completing the probe, students crumple

their papers into a ball and, upon a signal from
the teacher, toss the paper balls around the
room until the teacher instructs them to pick up
or hold on to one paper.

3. Students take the paper that they end up with

and share the answer and explanation that is
described on the paper that they are holding.
 #7 Commit & Toss
• Percents and Tips – Multistep Problem
• 7.RP.3

• Intro: A tip is a gratuity, or a payment, for

good service. People commonly tip
waiters and waitresses, hairdressers,
bellhops, and cab drivers. In most cases, a
tip of 15% is acceptable.
 #51 Strategy Harvest
• Ss complete a problem solving task and
then circulate among their peers to find ss
who used a strategy different from theirs to
solve the problem.
• Ss record the other strategies and
describe how the strategy differs from the
one they used.
• Ss give feedback to each other on their
strategy.
 Example Strategy Harvest
Sheet
My Strategy __________’s Strategy

__________’s Strategy __________’s Strategy

 #51 Strategy Harvest
• Choosing Methods and Solving
Systems of Linear Equations
• There are several ways to solve a system
of linear equations: graphing, substitution,
addition-or-subtraction, and multiplication
with addition-or-subtraction.
• Solve each system of linear equations.
Use the method you prefer.
 #22 Human Scatter Graph
• Ss position themselves around the room
according to their response to a question and
their confidence level.
• Creates a visual graph of results.
• Choose selected response questions with at
least3 and no more than four choices.
• Label the way (Y-axis) on one side of the room
with the choices, A, B, C, D.
• Label the adjacent wall (X-axis) with a range of
low confidence to high confidence.
 #22 Human Scatter Graph
Example
• See page 106 in the book.
• Let’s practice…
• Value of the inequality…If m>0 and n<0,
decide if each inequality is Always True,
Sometimes, True, Never True, or Can’t be
Determined.
• m+n<0
 #39 Pass the Problem
• Begin by working in pairs to respond to a
problem, partially completing a solution to
a problem.
• When time is up, exchange partially
completed solution with another pair to
finish – modify, add to, or change it as
deemed necessary.
 #39 Pass the Problem
• Drawing Comparative Inferences about
Two Populations
• 7.SP.4
• Problem: According to the prices in the
tables, which place, the store at the mall or
the outlet, has less expensive jeans?
Explain your answer.
 #50 Sticky Bars
• Low-tech version of personal response
systems (clickers).
• Present ss with a selected response
question.
• The answer is anonymously recorded on a
Post-It note and passed to the teacher.
• The teacher or a student arranges the
sticky notes on the wall or board as a bar
graph representing the different
responses.
 #50 Sticky Bars
• There are 45 more students than teachers
on the field trip.
a. 45 = s + t
b. s + 45 = t
c. t + 45 = s
 #35 Odd One Out

Odd One Out provides an opportunity for

students to access mathematical knowledge
to analyze relationships between items in a
group.
 #35 Odd One Out
• Which expression does not belong
because it is not equivalent to the others?
a. 9a2
b. -9a2
c. -(3a)2
d. -3a2  3
 #17 Four Corners

Four Corners provides an opportunity for

students to make their ideas public. It is
used with selected-response questions to
identify and group students who have
similar responses to the question asked.
 #17 Four Corners
• Division of Fractions Model
• Page 33 Uncovering Student Thinking
About Math in the Common Core
 FACTs focused on
Writing…Reflection
• #33 Muddiest Point
• #43 POMS: Points of Most Significance
• #56 Ten-Two
• #57 Thinking Log
• #62 Three-Two-One
• #67 Two-Minute Paper
• #73 What are You Doing and Why (or use
as discussion)
 #21 Hot Seat Questioning
• Used when all students are expected to be
ready to respond to math questions at any
time.
• Students are selected to sit in the “hot
seat” to respond to questions asked by the
teacher while the class provides feedback
on the students’ responses.
• Think – what are two FACTs that you
think you will use and why….
 #21 Hot Seat Questioning
• Variation
• Check under your seat for an index card
with a “hot seat” label.
Using Classroom Assessment
to Improve Student Learning
 Using Classroom Assessment
to Improve Student Learning
• Make students thinking visible
• Asking students to explain what they were
thinking when they solved a problem may
reveal…
– Appropriate procedural knowledge
– No conceptual understanding
– Can’t explain the mathematical ideas
underlying why or how the procedure worked
• When asked why? Because it’s the rule!
 Middle school teachers
• Need both conceptual and procedural
math content knowledge that goes beyond
grades they teach.
• Need PCK – that enables them to teach
the conceptual and procedural content to
EVERY student…. Differentiation.
 Teacher proficiencies needed
• Math basis of formulas and procedures
and explain why they work
• Should use many different representations
of concepts and procedures
• Recognize and encourage deep thinking in
classroom discussions
 Providing Feedback
• Information about performance in light of
some goal.
• Descriptive vs. Evaluative Feedback
• Effective descriptive feedback gives
students an idea of what they are doing
well and offers specific input on what they
must do next to advance learning.
 Students’ Role in Formative
Assessment
• By the middle grades, ss should be able to
articulate areas in which they are proficient
and those in which they need more
support.
• They need opportunities to be engaged in:
– Criteria and goal setting
– Self-reflection
– Self-evaluation
– Sharing their work
– Defending their ideas publicly
 Students’ Role in Formative
Assessment
• Teachers need to:
– Provide exemplar work samples that illustrate
expectations
– Provide assistance in prompts to help ss self-
reflect such as:
• Describe the strategies you used to solve this
problem. What other strategies might you use the
next time to solve a similar problem?
• Did you collaborate with peers when you were
solving the problem? What is helpful? If so, how? If
not, why not?
 Formative Assessment Tools
Jigsaw
• Group 1: Range Questions & Observation
protocols p. 18-19
• Group 2: Gallery Walks p. 19-21
• Group 3 – Round-Robin Activities p. 24-25
• Group 4 - Focused Questions and Hinge
Questions p. 25-27
• Group 5 - Mathematical Discourse –
accountable talk & math congress p. 28-30
• Group 6 - Neutral feedback – p. 31-33
• Group 7 - Exit cards – p.33-38