From Formative Assessment to Assessment FOR Learning: A Path to Success in Standards-Based Schools

31 Rick Stiggins 2005 From Formative Assessment to Assessment FOR Learning: A Path to Success in Standards-Based Schools As schools move beyond the urge to "merely sort and rank students," says assessment expert Rick Stiggins, the opportunity presents itself to use performance-based standards as a tool to resurrect educators' interest in formative assessment -- those assessments "conducted during learning to promote, not merely judge or grade, student success." In this article from Phi Delta KAPPAN, Stiggins makes a case on behalf of what he calls "assessment FOR learning" -- a strategy that can tap into the "immense potential" of formative thinking by using "many different assessment methods to provide students, teachers, and parents with a continuing stream of evidence of student progress in mastering the knowledge and skills that underpin or lead up to state standards." Stiggins has also co-authored a more practitioner-oriented version of his ideas for the Journal of Staff Development (Winter 2006). Stiggins, R. (2005). From formative assessment to assessment for learning: A path to success in standards-based schools. Phi delta kappan (Vol. No. 4 Dec. 2005). Retrieved from PDK International 12 May 2008. http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v87/k0512sti.htm http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v87/k0512sti.htm