Www.ioe.ac.uk Research perspectives and formative assessment ASME Conference: Researching Medical Education, November 2009: RIBA, London Dylan Wiliam.

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Research perspectives and formative assessment

ASME Conference: Researching Medical Education, November 2009: RIBA, London

Dylan Wiliam

OverviewThe nature of educational researchWhat should educational research try to do?How should it try to do it?

Formative assessmentDefinitions ImplementationsResearching formative assessment

Pasteur’s quadrant

Educational research“An elusive science” (Lagemann, 2000)A search for disciplinary foundations

Making social science matter (Flyvbjerg, 2001) Contrast between analytic rationality and value-rationalityPhysical science succeeds when it focuses on analytic rationalitySocial science

fails when it focuses on analytic rationality, but succeeds when it focuses on value-rationality

Research methods 101: causalityDoes X cause Y?

In the presence of X, Y happened (factual) Problem: post hoc ergo propter hoc

Desired inference: If X had not happened, Y would not have happened (counterfactual) Problem: X did happen

So we need to create a parallel world where X did not happen Same group different time (baseline measurement) Need to assume stability over time Different group same time (control group) Need to assume groups are equivalent Randomized contolled trial

Plausible rival hypothesesExample: Smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer

Randomized controlled trial not possible

Have to rely on other methods

Logic of inference-making

Establish the warrant for chosen inferences

Establish that plausible rival interpretations are less warranted

KnowledgeNot justified-true-belief

Discriminability (Goldman, 1976)

Elimination of plausible rival hypotheses

Building knowledge involves:marshalling evidence to support the desired inferenceeliminating plausible rival interpretations

‘Plausible’ determined by reference to a theory, a community of practice, or a dominant discourse

Inquiry systems (Churchman, 1971)

System Evidence

Leibnizian Rationality

Lockean Observation

Kantian Representation

Hegelian Dialectic

Singerian Values, ethics and practical consequences

The Lockean inquirer displays the ‘fundamental’ data that all experts agree are accurate and relevant, and then builds a consistent story out of these. The Kantian inquirer displays the same story from different points of view, emphasising thereby that what is put into the story by the internal mode of representation is not given from the outside. But the Hegelian inquirer, using the same data, tells two stories, one supporting the most prominent policy on one side, the other supporting the most promising story on the other side (Churchman, 1971 p. 177).

Inquiry systems

The ‘is taken to be’ is a self-imposed imperative of the community. Taken in the context of the whole Singerian theory of inquiry and progress, the imperative has the status of an ethical judgment. That is, the community judges that to accept its instruction is to bring about a suitable tactic or strategy [...]. The acceptance may lead to social actions outside of inquiry, or to new kinds of inquiry, or whatever. Part of the community’s judgement is concerned with the appropriateness of these actions from an ethical point of view. Hence the linguistic puzzle which bothered some empiricists—how the inquiring system can pass linguistically from “is” statements to “ought” statements— is no puzzle at all in the Singerian inquirer: the inquiring system speaks exclusively in the “ought,” the “is” being only a convenient façon de parler when one wants to block out the uncertainty in the discourse. (Churchman, 1971: 202).

Singerian inquiry systems

Educational research…can be characterised as a never-ending process of assembling evidence that:particular inferences are warranted on the basis of the available evidence;such inferences are more warranted than plausible rival inferences; the consequences of such inferences are ethically defensible.

The basis for warrants, the other plausible interpretations, and the ethical bases for defending the consequences, are themselves constantly open to scrutiny and question.

Effective learning environmentsA prevalent, mistaken, viewTeachers create learningThe teacher’s job is to do the learning for the learner

A not so prevalent, not quite so mistaken, but equally dangerous viewOnly learners can create learningThe teacher’s job is to “facilitate” learning

A difficult to negotiate, middle pathTeaching as the engineering of effective learning environmentsKey features:

Create student engagement (pedagogies of engagement) Well-regulated (pedagogies of contingency) Develop habits of mind (pedagogies of formation)

Formative assessment: a definition“An assessment functions formatively to the extent that evidence about student achievement elicited by the assessment is interpreted and used to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions that would have been taken in the absence of that evidence.

Formative assessment therefore involves the creation of, and capitalization upon, moments of contingency (short, medium and long cycle) in instruction with a view to regulating learning (proactive, interactive, and retroactive).” (Wiliam, 2009)

The formative assessment hi-jack…Long-cycleSpan: across units, termsLength: four weeks to one year Impact: Student monitoring; curriculum alignmentMedium-cycleSpan: within and between teaching unitsLength: one to four weeks Impact: Improved, student-involved, assessment; teacher cognition about

learningShort-cycleSpan: within and between lessonsLength:

day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours minute-by-minute: 5 seconds to 2 hours

Impact: classroom practice; student engagement

Unpacking assessment for learningKey processesEstablishing where the learners are in their learningEstablishing where they are goingWorking out how to get there

ParticipantsTeachersPeersLearners

Five “key strategies”…Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentionscurriculum philosophy

Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learningclassroom discourse, interactive whole-class teaching

Providing feedback that moves learners forward feedback

Activating students as learning resources for one another collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching, peer-assessment

Activating students as owners of their own learningmetacognition, motivation, interest, attribution, self-assessment

(Wiliam & Thompson, 2007)

…and one big ideaUse evidence about learning to adapt instruction to better meet learner needs

A model for professional changeContentEvidence Ideas

ProcessChoiceFlexibilitySmall stepsAccountabilitySupport

KMO Formative Assessment Project24 teachers, each developing their practice in individual ways

Different outcome variables

No possibility of standardized controls

“Polyexperiment” with “local design”

Synthesis by standardized effect size

5

05

6

0 64 6 8 8 80 3 4 5 6 6 7 95 9

3

4

1.51.41.31.21.11.00.90.80.70.60.50.40.30.20.10.0

-0.1-0.2-0.3-0.4 5 9

Jack-knife estimate of mean effect size: 0.32; 95% C.I. [0.16, 0.48)

Effect size by comparison typeI Parallel set taught by same

teacher in same yearS Similar set taught by same

teacher in previous yearP Parallel set taught by different

teacher in same yearL Similar set taught by different

teacher in previous yearD Non-parallel set taught by

different teacher in same yearN National norms

SummaryEducational research is a never-completed process of assembling evidence that:particular inferences are warranted on the basis of the available evidence;such inferences are more warranted than plausible rival inferences; the consequences of such inferences are ethically defensible.

The basis for each of these is constantly open to scrutiny and question