What do you think?
Rate this book
Embedded Formative Assessment (Strategies for Classroom Formative Assessment That Drives Student Engagement and Learning)
By integrating classroom formative assessment practices into daily activities, educators can substantially increase student engagement and the rate of student learning. The second edition of this best-selling book by Dylan Wiliam presents new research, insights, and formative assessment strategies teachers can immediately apply in their classrooms. Updated examples and templates are included to help teachers elicit evidence of learning, provide meaningful feedback, and empower students to take ownership of their education. Implement effective assessment strategies in the classroom Changes for the Second
Chapter 1: Discovering Why Educational Achievement Matters
Chapter 2: Making the Case for Formative Assessment
Chapter 3: Clarifying, Sharing, and Understanding Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
Chapter 4: Eliciting Evidence of Learners' Achievement
Chapter 5: Providing Feedback That Moves Learning Forward
Chapter 6: Activating Students as Instructional Resources for One Another
Chapter 7: Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning
Chapter 1: Discovering Why Educational Achievement Matters
Chapter 2: Making the Case for Formative Assessment
Chapter 3: Clarifying, Sharing, and Understanding Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
Chapter 4: Eliciting Evidence of Learners' Achievement
Chapter 5: Providing Feedback That Moves Learning Forward
Chapter 6: Activating Students as Instructional Resources for One Another
Chapter 7: Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning
240 pages, Perfect Paperback
Published October 20, 2017
41 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 5, 2020
Look, the class ended and I read 63% of it. It's close enough.
September 5, 2018
I wasn't crazy about the set up of this book, but I liked the message of continually checking for understanding and to always begin with the end in mind. My school's training in UbD and Keys came to mind while reading this book. Three points really stuck with me, and two of them go hand in hand.
Product focused vs. process focused criteria
Rubrics
My school is working toward implementing competency-based education, and we have spent a lot of time reading about rubrics and developing criteria for them. I agree that rubrics are very helpful and make assessment clear for students, but they can be limiting. The author is quick to point out that rubrics are not just about improving the accuracy of assessment; they must also be about improving learning. Sometimes student only work to the criteria of the rubric, and this can limit creativity, productivity, and innovation. Why go beyond if the rubric does not require it. A small group at my school has explored the idea of 1 point rubrics, and I would love to use these for formative assessment, but I don't think they will work with summative assessment.
The third point is that we need to teach students to self-regulate and how to engage in metacognition. This includes self-directed learning as well. This sounds familiar for a workshop I attended in June 2018.
I attended a workshop with Margaret Heritage, and her take on formative assessment threw me for a loop. She says that formative assessment (singular) is not the same as formative assessments (plural). She also said that other countries call it assessment for learning, and only the USA uses the term formative assessment. I know Juliet said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." But I do feel we would interpret formative assessment differently if we referred to it as assessment for learning.
This book offers practices and procedures and examples of what to do in the classroom. I struggled to get through this book. I don't know why, but maybe more graphs and sidebars would have broken up the monotony of the text for me.
Product focused vs. process focused criteria
Rubrics
My school is working toward implementing competency-based education, and we have spent a lot of time reading about rubrics and developing criteria for them. I agree that rubrics are very helpful and make assessment clear for students, but they can be limiting. The author is quick to point out that rubrics are not just about improving the accuracy of assessment; they must also be about improving learning. Sometimes student only work to the criteria of the rubric, and this can limit creativity, productivity, and innovation. Why go beyond if the rubric does not require it. A small group at my school has explored the idea of 1 point rubrics, and I would love to use these for formative assessment, but I don't think they will work with summative assessment.
The third point is that we need to teach students to self-regulate and how to engage in metacognition. This includes self-directed learning as well. This sounds familiar for a workshop I attended in June 2018.
I attended a workshop with Margaret Heritage, and her take on formative assessment threw me for a loop. She says that formative assessment (singular) is not the same as formative assessments (plural). She also said that other countries call it assessment for learning, and only the USA uses the term formative assessment. I know Juliet said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." But I do feel we would interpret formative assessment differently if we referred to it as assessment for learning.
This book offers practices and procedures and examples of what to do in the classroom. I struggled to get through this book. I don't know why, but maybe more graphs and sidebars would have broken up the monotony of the text for me.
January 6, 2020
The most interesting part of this book is the first chapter, in which the author discuss a wide variety of common education reforms and shows that most of them are slow, expensive, and are only modestly helpful. William's alternative is to focus on helping current teachers do a better job.
Most chapters begin with a survey of scholarly literature showing which techniques work and which don't, and then discuss a variety of reforms that classroom teachers might wish to try out. Some of these options seem to be related to the studies discussed in the scholarly literature cited by William; others seem to be ideas that William is impressed by but that aren't related to the literature (or if they are, William doesn't make it clear how they are).
Some ideas that I found especially interesting included: having students draft test questions, giving students more time to reflect on questions when called on, delaying feedback so that students have more time to think about work on their own, making as many assignments as possible be ungraded (because otherwise students focus more on the grade than on feedback from the assignment), getting students to ask questions anonymously on paper (to combat fear of speaking up).
Most chapters begin with a survey of scholarly literature showing which techniques work and which don't, and then discuss a variety of reforms that classroom teachers might wish to try out. Some of these options seem to be related to the studies discussed in the scholarly literature cited by William; others seem to be ideas that William is impressed by but that aren't related to the literature (or if they are, William doesn't make it clear how they are).
Some ideas that I found especially interesting included: having students draft test questions, giving students more time to reflect on questions when called on, delaying feedback so that students have more time to think about work on their own, making as many assignments as possible be ungraded (because otherwise students focus more on the grade than on feedback from the assignment), getting students to ask questions anonymously on paper (to combat fear of speaking up).
February 22, 2019
This is simply one of the best education books I've yet read. There is plenty in here that may seem common sense, yet when you've spent any time at all in schools you realize that to practice teaching as it is described here would be a revolution. I wish I could have read this at the start of my teaching career, but I know that I wouldn't have had the experience to appreciate what Wiliam is writing here.
June 17, 2021
Utterly useless to anyone outside the education profession, excellent to those of us working as educators!
What I love most is that Dylan Wiliam critically applies valid research and weeds out the bullshit education fads that have come and gone over the years.
I've been using some ideas already, but I am really excited to try some of these techniques in my classroom!
What I love most is that Dylan Wiliam critically applies valid research and weeds out the bullshit education fads that have come and gone over the years.
I've been using some ideas already, but I am really excited to try some of these techniques in my classroom!
January 10, 2022
Not a good read. Content is very disorganized and contradictory. Many great statistics are included but unclear how they relate to the authors purpose at times. Video cards are included. However, there is an additional cost to watch them. I did not bother, so cannot speak on how effective they are.
There are much better resources out there about formative assessment and feedback for educators.
There are much better resources out there about formative assessment and feedback for educators.
November 28, 2018
Brilliant
Beautifully written, researched, and discussed. Great tangible ideas combined with powerfully/ well combined/ curated studies. Always grateful for Wiliams’ work.
Beautifully written, researched, and discussed. Great tangible ideas combined with powerfully/ well combined/ curated studies. Always grateful for Wiliams’ work.
November 1, 2020
Must read for educators
January 28, 2021
This book is great for skimming - there’s some great detail about formative assessment strategies and I’m sure I’ll be using it as an in-depth reference book in future.
January 1, 2022
An important book with a great blend of research and practical tips
October 1, 2024
A somewhat dense read, but full of actual practical strategies for how to implement high-quality assessment in the classroom.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews