The Formative Assessment in Action video series features California members of the State Network of Educators (SNE) demonstrating formative assessment strategies in their classrooms. The lessons and activities used in these videos can be found in the instructional resources on the Tools for Teachers
website (Tools for Teachers account required for full access).
Using Rubrics to Improve Student Writing
This 12-minute video features Christina Lambie–a district administrator in the Woodland Joint Unified School District–demonstrating the formative assessment process as her grade six class uses a Smarter Balanced sample item and corresponding rubric to target and improve writing skills.
Knotty Rope: 3 Act Math Task
This 12-minute video features Cassandra Gartung—an instructional coordinator in the Victor Elementary School District—demonstrating the formative assessment process as her grade three math class uses inquiry to identify and solve a math performance task problem involving the number of knots tied in a given length of rope.
Constructing Scientific Explanations Using Defining Sentences
This 12-minute video features Toni David─an elementary school teacher in the Stanislaus Unified School District─demonstrating the formative assessment process as her grade five class works in collaborative groups to create defining sentences in an effort to enhance a written explanation of why it rains.
Digital Hybrid Socratic Seminar
This 13-minute video features Matthew Cowan─an instructional coach at Redlands Unified School District─demonstrating the formative assessment process as his grade nine ELA students debate the effects of texting and video games on student learning.
Using Ratios to Solve Real-World Problems
This 9-minute video features Travis Burke─a math professional development coach in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District─demonstrating the formative assessment process as his grade six students discuss different ratio combinations for the perfect glass of chocolate milk. Students teach each other different strategies for solving this problem, and then attempt to convince classmates that their strategy is best.
Rhetorical Reading Review—A Close Look at Author, Text, and Audience
This 10-minute video features Leisa Machado─a middle school English language arts and history teacher from the Turlock Unified School District─demonstrating the formative assessment process as her grade seven students annotate a newspaper article, and then work in groups to complete posters based on collaborative discussion and use text-on-text graffiti to provide feedback to their peers.