Hi David 
I am replying in a rush and so don't have a chance to add a great deal of detail - more to come later 
Perhaps the most influential text on formative assessment in the UK system which has percolated down to the NZ system and into the adult education sector is Inside the Black Box by Black and Wiliam which advocates exactly what you are saying - that formative assessment, designed to improve teaching and thus  learning can improve learner outcomes. Here are some references below 
 
http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/phpnews/wmprint.php?ArtID=225
 
Formative assessment forms a key part of Reading and Writing Professional Development that Workbase offers in New Zealand, Two colleagues from New Zealand John Benseman and Alison Sutton have also worked on an OECD project around formative assessment and I will put them in touch with you 
will provide more information later 
 
Kind regards Susan Reid 
Manager Professional Development 
Workbase the NZ Centre for Workforce Literacy 
www.workbase.org.nz
www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz

________________________________

From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of djrosen at comcast.net
Sent: Wed 10/05/2006 8:43 p.m.
To: assessment at nifl.gov
Subject: [Assessment 328] Formative Assessment


Assessment colleagues,
 
The term ¨formative assessment" may not be familiar to many of us working in adult literacy education in the United States. It is more widely used in Europe, and possibly in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and more common in elementary and secondary education. I am quite interested in this topic and would be interested to learn about examples in adult literacy education in the U.S., especially of systematic formative assessment. 
 
So, what is formative assessment?
 
It's the opposite of summative assessment. Its focus is assessment _for_ learning; whereas summative assessment's focus is assessment _of_ learning. Formative assessments give teachers and learners information about learners' goals and objectives, about how they are progressing toward them, about what methods do -- and do not -- work for them. Formative assessments are carried out by a learner on her/his own (self-assessment) , by a group of learners (peer assessment) by a teacher and learner together, and possibly by a learner and a counselor or intake worker.  Formative assessments are not usually standardized tests. They do not usually result in a grade, official score or certificate. They provide information for decision-making by learners and teachers, often together, about the learning itself. Some people in the U.S. use the term " alternative assessment," or are familiar with one formative assessment process referred to as "portfolio assessment."  S ome te achers, when they understand what "formative assessment" means say "Yes, of course, I do this all the time. It's part of the learning process. I just don't have a name for it."  
 
I am interested in the details of how this is done, in examples of where it is done especially well, and where it is systematically used.  I am especially interested because I am doing a case study right now on how formative assessment is being used in Belgium, part of a larger OECD study being carried out in several countries where formative assessment is used in adult literacy education. I am also interested because there is evidence from elementary and secondary education research that formative assessment works, that is, that its use results in higher student achievement.
 
If you use a formative assessment process in your classroom, or if you have studied formative assessment and/or if you know of good studies of formative assessment, please let us all know -- here -- or email me a djrosen at comcast.net.
 
David J. Rosen
newsomeassociates.com
djrosen at comcast.net
 
 
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