ABSTRACT
Formative assessment provides a process for teachers and students to be engaged in a continuous cycle of assessment and feedback. It helps to clarify learning goals, as well as to assess progress toward those goals, enabling students and teachers to adjust learning and instruction resulting from assessment information. As Erickson pointed out, formative assessment is a fundamental part of pedagogy, and as such, it has critical links to virtually every aspect of quality instruction. An essential early step in promoting the data literacy and the collaborative culture necessary for successful implementation of the formative assessment cycle is to ensure all staff members have a uniform understanding of the data terminology utilized. According to Stiggins, formative assessment informs instructional decision making by providing information about how and what students are learning. Strategies that leave the student as the passive recipient of instruction are less effective and in some cases can undermine learning.
