In the summer of 2019, we at Formative journeyed to Horizon School Division in Saskatchewan to document how they were using Formative to service a diverse population that requires tremendous differentiation, the need to move toward more outcome-based reports, and assessing students and implementing various practices more efficiently.

Our schools are disparate; it’s always a challenge to balance teacher needs and student needs, Students need differentiation, but it’s hard on teachers to do this—it’s time-consuming to plan three different levels of a lesson, for example. The more we have to adapt, the heavier the workload becomes.

Sharon Skretting, Assessment Coach for Horizon explains.

Formative has so many features, it’s like, ‘Here’s how to make it easier on yourselves, we use it not just to upload tests and such—not just entry-level—but rather to mark more efficiently, give immediate feedback, see who’s having problems right away, and grade in real-time, seeing all results on one screen. We’re challenging teachers to use Formative in deeper ways, moving beyond just assessing to lesson planning—almost like a flipped classroom. The possibilities are exciting!

Sharon and the teachers are Horizon School Division loved the fact that Formative is able to provide differentiation effortlessly. For example, Horizon has a large Mennonite population, for which English is a second language. Formative’s audio option offers a way to include these children without drawing attention to differences, and the kids agree they’re learning faster because of these unique tools.