Best Practice: Formative Assessment Done Right

Best Practice: Formative Assessment Done Right
Reading this article and comments made me think a great deal about my own process of formative assessment and what my ultimate goal is for my students.  It is so true that the focus should be on learning and not scores.  It's so important to take time within the daily assessments we give to provide our students with feedback and motivate growth.  A letter grade on a report card or percentage on a test isn't going to help a student reflect upon their current understanding of a topic or subject.
I also think the power of collaboration and building a community of learners is a very significant part of the reflective and growing process.  Formative assessment in this way is not necessarily always gaged by the teacher.  For example instead of having my students simply write a reflection on how they think their literature circle groups did that day, I involve the whole class in providing feedback and reflecting on how to become a better communicator and listener.  I choose one group to videotape their literature discussion and then play it back the next day for the group and entire class to evaluate.  Student's have to be actively engaged in the process of assessing their peers and the chosen group is able to see firsthand what they are doing well and need to improve upon.  Author's Share Chair time is another equally beneficial way to use formative assessment, where the evaluation is done amongst peers.