Removing Barriers to Learning: How Formative Promotes Equity in Assessments

Using the tools in Formative to remove obstacles to ensure equity in students' ability to communicate & express their knowledge of the content.

The goal with assessments is to provide students with an opportunity to express their knowledge on a given topic.  However, many students encounter barriers and obstacles that can impact their ability to communicate what they know and the assessment may not be an authentic representation of their understanding of the content.  

Think of a track meet.  In the 100-meter dash, you are assessing how fast the runner can sprint from the start line to the finish line 100 meters away.  You would not put hurdles on the track for the 100-meter dash.  The hurdles are reserved for the short hurdle race.  Those hurdles impact a sprint-runner’s time in the race.  Would it be fair if those hurdles were placed in only some of the lanes of the race?  No.  There would be no equity in that race.  The same can be said for a classroom assessment.  Hurdles and obstacles can impact a student’s grade on an assessment.  

Equity recognizes that each student has different obstacles and ensures students have the exact resources and opportunities they need to reach an equal outcome.  The tools of Formative can remove those hurdles for a student to ensure equity in a student's ability to communicate & express their knowledge of the content.

Many students have reading difficulties or think of your ELL students.  If this is not a reading assessment, there are tools in Formative that can remove the reading barriers to ensure that these students have the same opportunity to understand the questions so they can then express their knowledge on the given content-area topic.  Before assigning the assessment, teachers can use the Audio tool, Image tool, or Video tool to embed that support ensuring the student understands the questions.  Giving the students the opportunity to hear or see the questions will remove those reading barriers so they can better understand what’s being assessed.

Having tests read or directions simplified are accommodations on many students’ IEP’s.  I’ve observed teachers sitting with a group of 5-10 students and reading the test questions.  One student is ready to move on.  One student has fallen behind.  One student is too embarrassed to ask the teacher to read the question again.  All students are working at different paces.  By having the teacher use the Audio tool to pre-record the questions being read, students can work at their own pace.  Students can replay the audio as many times as they need to.  Students aren’t distracted hearing the teacher read a question they are not up to yet.  Using the Audio tool ensures equity so each student is receiving the exact support needed when they need it. 

Writing is a struggle for many students as well, whether it's fine motor coordination, dysgraphia, auditory processing, or other writing difficulties. Imagine how frustrating it is to have an understanding or even mastery of the material and not being able to accurately and effectively communicate that knowledge.  A student’s grade on a social studies essay or science hypothesis and conclusion shouldn’t be impacted by their writing abilities. Those are two different skills to assess.   Audio Response and Video Response tools remove the writing obstacle from the assessment so students can express and communicate what they know. 

Assessments can easily be modified by limiting the number of distractors in a multiple choice.  Using Fill in the Blank instead of a short response.  Drag & Drop instead of matching which can be overwhelming and confusing.

Using the tools of Formative also respects and ensures a student’s privacy.  Classmates can’t see that modifications have been put in place.  Students aren’t embarrassed to ask for help when it’s already embedded for them.  

The tools of Formative remove those hurdles a student may encounter to allow them to effectively communicate their understanding of the content and ensure equity for all students.