Book Review: Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam

I just finished reading Dylan Wiliam's Embedded Formative Assessment. I highly highly highly highly recommend it for all teachers - and no I'm not getting paid to say that (even though it would be awesome to get paid to say what I think about stuff.) First off, I don't know if you know this, but Dylan Wiliam is one of the world's leading experts on formative assessment and why it raises student achievement. This guys has done his research... and it's a lot. Most claims in his book are followed by a citation. The book has an impressive 17 pages of references - most of which come from peer reviewed research journals. He also did some of the research himself.

Soooooooooo many teachers have formative assessment all wrong, which is why I didn't understand it until I read Dr. Wiliam's book. There is no such thing as an assessment that is itself formative. Instead, you use an assessment formatively. Whether an assessment is formative depends on how you use it. Wiliam gives many examples of how to do such a thing.

I also like his framework for how to focus learning in the classroom. The 5 key strategies he suggests are:

1. Clarify, share, and understand learning intentions and criteria for success.
2. Engineer effective classroom activities that elicit evidence of learning.
3. Provide feedback that moves learning forward.
4. Activate learners as instructional resources for one another.
5. Activate learners as the owners of their own learning.

I'm finding it difficult to describe how awesome this work is. The research he cites explains a lot of the problems that are hindering student achievement in schools today. They also provide practical ways to solve those problems. Most of those strategies aren't even difficult, they are just uncomfortable for us to do because we have been doing things wrong for so long.

This is starting another project for me. I'm going to collect practical strategies to do the above 5 strategies. I've actually already started. Here is a link.

Once again, I highly recommend it. It is a great book for non-traditionalists and traditionalists.