Know Your Why!: Formative Assessment Resources for Remote Learning

There are quite a few awesome formative assessment resources that teachers can use to engage students, but I am going to start this post discussing some of my thoughts about assessments in remote learning experiences. If you are just looking for the tools, just scroll down a bit and they are all there.

I've seen this question quite a few times over the last few weeks, "How do I prevent students from "cheating" on a test when they are home?"
I've also been reading quite a few posts about secure tests and preventing students from "cheating" on tests and quizzes. Many educators are recommending different "secure" assessment tools or asking the parents to "supervise" their children as they take the tests. The idea is that we can stop students from cheating on the traditional multiple-choice or short answer assessments. Here are a few reasons why I think that this is the wrong question and the wrong mindset for remote learning.

If students don't value the learning experience, most will take the easiest path. Often they don't even think that they are cheating. They are just using all of the resources at their disposal.
There is no assessment tool that can guarantee a student is not using a second device to find answers.
Many parents may not have the time or even the inclination to supervise their students during an assessment. Even if they do, some students are very good at hiding what they are doing from parents.
Even the best students may choose to find help because they believe everyone else is doing it.
Online assessments are stressful for many students and there is just too much stress in the world right now.
Instead of focusing on just vocabulary and content assessment, let's engage students in critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication as we engage them in formative assessments.

Instead of securing our assessments, let's focus on this question, "How can we use formative assessments to engage students in understanding what they know and what they don't know in a fun and creative way?"

Summative Assessments
I teach AP Environmental Science and we do have summative assessments about 7 times a year and 2 final exams. These are typically multiple choice and short answer. No notes or other resources are allowed during these assessments. I try to write questions that help students dive deeper into what they know and what they don't know. We use these tests mainly to focus on the study and test-taking skills students need to succeed on an AP Exam. Retakes and redemptions are another big part of our summative strategy. I believe that every summative assessment is an opportunity for us to explore what we know, figure out what worked and what didn't work, and adjust future teaching and learning. I won't be focusing on summative assessments during our remote learning experiences.

Formative Assessments
Beyond the summative assessments, formative assessment is a huge piece of what we already do. We regularly use a variety of tools to quickly check what we know and what we don't know. We also engage in about 20 formative quizzes during the school year. I don't play the game of notecards or student notes to get them to study. These Multiple Choice and Short Answer quizzes are open note, open book, and open internet. They are also sometimes collaborative. I've been doing this for a while and here are a few things I've learned about these open quizzes.

Students are not very good at taking these open quizzes at the start of the year. Their primary strategy is to use Google Search and type in the question stems. While I try to write my own questions sometimes this strategy will get them to some answers. The data usually lets me know when a question I wrote or used was easy to find on the internet.
I emphasize that the purpose of having access to everything is to engage in the concepts and vocabulary they don't know, not just search for answers without learning anything new. It takes many of them a while to recognize that learning from a quiz will help them with our summative assessments.
The students who want to do well are going to put the work in before the quiz. I emphasize all the time that looking for the answer to every question is not learning. The open resources are there to help students engage in what they know and explore what they don't know.
Our formative assessments are worth points in the grade book. For better or worse, this is the currency that most students operate with.
While I tell students the only way a quiz grade is fatal if they cheat some do anyway. They help each other through backchannels. I have several discussions throughout the year with individual students and the class as a whole about using these quizzes as part of the learning process. I emphasize that they are only cheating themselves when they choose this path.
We connect every question to our classroom activities after the quiz. I emphasize that engagement in the learning process really does matter. Believe it or not, some don't believe this. Have you ever had a student tell you that they missed a question because you never told them the answer before the assessment? This happens quite a bit, especially when a student finds an answer through a Google search that is incorrect.

Favorite Resources for Multiple Choice and Short Answer Formative Assessment