One of the most powerful levers for deepening learner agency is hearing how students and teachers describe the power of formative assessment — how it supports their learning, deepens relationships with peers, and strengthens agency. Leaders, teachers, and even students have a unique opportunity to collect and explore how formative assessment impacts the way we experience learning. Reflections and questions from teachers and students are powerful ways to capture progress, explore new ways of working, and tease out new ideas about how mindsets and beliefs are shifting as students and teachers gain expertise in formative assessment. This set of resources offers a few examples of how to document and share student voices.
Sample of individual teachers’ student padlets
An elementary example, where student and teacher quotes are collected during a lesson. In the other, student voices are captured in different classrooms, creating a longer story of how students are learning how to learn.
Sample of a course-wide padlet of student quotes collected during WestEd’s SAIL course
Student quotes submitted by teachers in WestEd’s Student Agency in Learning (SAIL) course. This resource has key themes that explore the impact of formative assessment on student identity, agency and learner ownership.
Sample of a video montage capturing student reflections on their learning
This video of K–12 student reflections can help educators consider what to listen for as students develop knowledge, skills, and the shared vocabulary to talk about evidence, set daily goals, and engage with peers.
Sample blog of student experiences
Four high school students (who presented at the National A4L Conference) share multiple ways in which formative assessment strengthened their learning and how these practices carry over into other aspects of their lives.
Sample student quotes, shared at a faculty meeting
In this example, students wrote quotes and placed them on a slide deck for their teacher to share at a 2018 Formative Assessment Summit in Arizona.