Formative Assessment Naturally Fits in an Inclusive Teaching Pedagogy

Formative Assessment Naturally Fits in an Inclusive Teaching Pedagogy
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Abstract
Formative assessment naturally fits in inclusive teaching pedagogy. Indeed, it involves using teaching methods that allow teachers to monitor and evaluate students’ learning progress. In that case, when instructors identify problems that learners are facing or things that hinder effective learning, they modify their teaching methods to address those issues. The formative assessment facilitates proper learning for deaf students. In particular, it prioritizes the educational needs of students in special education, hence promoting their academic excellence. Formative assessment has also emerged as a good strategy for teaching complex subjects, such as mathematics. The method works the best in inclusive learning environments where there are proper teacher-student relationships. Teachers can use formative assessment to implement curricula since it involves the participation of primary stakeholders and appropriate modifications to ensure that set outcomes are clear and measurable. Formative assessment fosters students’ motivation since they know their strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, it enables teachers to be coaches who guide learners on what to do to benefit from the knowledge acquired from the classroom maximally.
Table of Contents
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………...2
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..4-6
Review of Literature………………………………………………………………………...6-13
Formative Assessment as in Inclusive Teaching Pedagogy in Special Education…………...6-8
Formative Assessment in Enhancing Classroom Inclusivity, Teaching Sustainability, and Concepts’ Comprehension……………………………………………………………………8-9
The Importance of Formative Assessment in Physical Education…………………………...9-10
Formative Assessment in Curricula Implementation and Students’ Motivation…………...10-11
Formative Assessment in Enhancing Teacher-Student Relationship……………………….11-13
Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………..13-16
Implications of the Synthesized Knowledge………………………………………………..13-14
Findings that are Pertinent to the Topic………………………………………………………..14
The Gaps Identified in the Literature Review………………………………………………14-15
Suggestions for Further Study………………………………………………………………….15
Further Exploration on Formative Assessment……………………………………………..15-16
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..16-17
References…………………………………………………………………………………..18-19
Every teacher wants to be sure that students comprehend the content taught during the class. The primary objective of learners is to grasp various concepts and understand them so that they can apply that knowledge in the real world. However, it is not straightforward for teachers to ensure that all students understand all concepts taught during a class session. Some students are quick learners and critical thinkers, while others are slow learners. In that light, teachers should be creative in coming up with teaching methods that balance knowledge acquisition for all learners. For example, when a teacher does oral reading when students are listening, only auditory learners benefit the most. If the teacher asks questions based on the excerpt read, some students will answer them correctly, particularly auditory learners. Nevertheless, visual and kinesthetic learners might encounter challenges since the teacher did not combine various teaching methods that make them active. On the contrary, if the same teacher uses diagrams, pictures, and videos to elaborate a specific point, visual and kinesthetic learners will grasp more concepts than auditory learners. For this reason, teachers should always use mixed teaching methods to ensure that all types of learners obtain relevant knowledge.
Formative assessment entails a broad array of methods that teachers can use when conducting in-process evaluations of students’ academic progress, comprehension, and learning needs during a unit, course, or lecture. In other words, it involves combining multiple teaching methods to ensure that all learners are on the same page. Formative assessment enables teachers to identify challenging concepts to students or those that learners have difficulty in understanding. In addition, teachers can know the learning objectives that they have not achieved. When teachers using formative assessment teaching pedagogy identify problems that students face, they adjust their lessons, academic support, or instructional techniques to address those issues. The primary goal of using formative assessment is to gather detailed information, which can be applied to improve student comprehension and instruction delivery when learning is happening. Teachers must ensure that they meet their learning and course objectives. They should not assume that students have grasped the content simply because a few learners can answer oral questions asked during the class. As such, formative assessment make sure that no student is left behind during the learning process. If a teacher identifies that a learner has problems comprehending a specific concept, he or she should help that student by analyzing the teaching method that works out the best. As a result, using formative assessment enables all students to comprehend various concepts taught in the class, which ensures that the teacher has achieved the course objectives.
Many educators perceive formative assessment as an integral method of effective teaching. Formative assessment is integrated into the learning process. For instance, it can be a simple strategy, such as asking learners to raise their right hand when they understand new concepts and left hand when they do not comprehend a specific theory or idea. Moreover, the teacher can give self-assessment tests to students and outline the criteria that will be used in grading the test. The primary reason for doing that should be to know students who have understood the concepts taught and those who need help. In most cases, formative assessments are done in-class so that the teacher can address any challenges that he or she identifies to hinder effective learning. Students also benefit from formative assessments since they comprehend various subjects well and get a chance to ask questions where they need clarification. Learners also know their academic weaknesses and strengths. When students know their weakest areas, they take responsibility and work hard to improve, which means they gain control of their academic and learning progresses and perform better eventually.
The primary objective of formative assessment is monitoring students’ learning progress and providing ongoing feedback that helps instructors to know the problems that learners face and address them accordingly. Additionally, this teaching pedagogy enables students to know their strengths and weaknesses. Without teachers conducting formative assessments, it would be difficult for them to know whether they have met their course objectives or not while the learning process is ongoing. Some of the tasks conducted during formative assessments are not usually graded. For example, a teacher might require students to draw concept maps showing their comprehension of a specific topic, turn their research paper early for feedback, or submit a few sentences to identify the primary objective of a lecture. In particular, formative assessments enable teachers and students to focus on the learning objectives. Moreover, they take note of the progress they are making in relation to the final outcome. When teachers realize that they are lagging behind the set teaching schedule, they take the right action to ensure that their goals would be met. For example, teachers use formative assessments when they demonstrate, explain, or describe how a good descriptive paragraph looks like. Afterward, they assign students a task to write a descriptive paragraph and grade the work when comparing to the ideal one. Formative assessment naturally fits in an inclusive teaching pedagogy since it involves using various teaching methods that incorporate all students and solves challenges that students encounter in the learning process.
Review of Literature
Formative Assessment as an Inclusive Teaching Pedagogy in Special Education
Julie Suzanne Tibbitt highlights that formative assessment is an underutilized tool that teachers can use to address various learning gaps in the classroom effectively. She says that formative assessment entails questioning and the provision of immediate feedback. Indeed, it facilitates learning flexibility and supports ongoing instruction adjustments based on the learners’ needs. Tibbitt further asserts that “Formative assessment, however, is not simply assessments; they are also a transformative methodology of instruction” (Tibbitt, 2020, p. 3). Administrators, teachers, and other professionals who deal with deaf students or learners who have impaired hearing abilities can use formative learning to improve the quality of education. Formative assessment enables teachers to understand students’ strengths and weaknesses, which help to propel their learning. In other words, it bypasses the deficit perception where deaf students are perceived based on their disabilities, but not in a way that optimizes their educational experience (Tibbitt, 2020, p. 5). Overall, formative assessment is an inclusive teaching pedagogy for deaf learners since it helps teachers to identify students’ academic and linguistic status, learning strengths and weaknesses, and develop responsive objectives to improve the learning outcomes. 
Catarina Andersson defines formative assessment as “the process of eliciting information about student learning and a subsequent use of this information to adapt teaching and learning in the classroom practice” (Andersson, 2020, p. 73). Specifically, formative assessment creates an inclusive environment for all students in special education. The practice of formative assessment in the classroom determines and identifies incorrect strategies, builds on students’ strengths, improves learners’ weaknesses, and avoids marginalization of students who have learning trajectories that deviate from what educators consider to be normal (Andersson, 2020, p. 74). The National Mathematics Advisory Panel (NMAP) recommends the use of formative assessment for helping students struggling in mathematics and for special education. The effective application of formative assessment leads to enhanced students’ performance in education and extended learning opportunities. In reality, formative assessment assumes that the student’s learning outcomes cannot be predicted. As such, this uncertainty enables teachers to gather evidence of students’ progress in learning and make necessary adjustments to ensure that the course objectives are met (Andersson, 2020, p. 76). Tibbitt and Andersson make it clear that formative assessment can be used in inclusive teaching pedagogy in special education since it facilitates the following:
Formative assessment shares, identifies, clarifies, and understands learning intentions and provides the criteria for success.
It engineers effective classroom tasks, questions, and discussions that show evidence of learning.
It offers feedback that enables learners to continue learning effectively.
It activates learners as instructional resources for each other.
It helps students to perceive themselves as owners of their learning, which enables them to improve on their weakest areas.
Formative Assessment in Enhancing Classroom Inclusivity, Teaching Sustainability, and Concepts’ Comprehension
Halem et al. (2016) reveal that formative assessment is the best approach for instructors who teach oral classes. The study was conducted in upper preparatory vocational education institutions in the Netherlands. Results indicated that teachers who use formative assessment have a higher likelihood of succeeding in teaching complex subjects, such as mathematics than those using other teaching pedagogies (Halem, Goei, & Akkerman, 2016). For instance, an instructor who uses formative assessment asks students oral questions during the learning session. The teacher also invites students who understand various concepts in front of the class to explain to others. That way, all students become attentive and are interested in participating in the classroom activities. When all this is happening, the teacher identifies challenges that learners are facing and makes adjustments to his or her teaching methods (Halem, Goei, & Akkerman, 2016, p. 321). In the long-term, students perform better due to the incorporation of different learning strategies by the instructor, which succeeds in eliminating problems encountered by learners in the class. 
Formative assessment fosters teaching sustainability since students accumulate relevant knowledge and progress to high levels of education. Besides, learning is a cumulative process where concepts learned today are applicable in the future. Hongli Li says that teachers require a formative assessment to facilitate learning and instruction delivery. Similar to what Andersson and Tibbitt depicted, Li asserts that formative assessment is usually designed to monitor the learning process and make appropriate adjustments on the ongoing class sess...