When teachers use summative assessment, they have likely witnessed student problem solving, brainstorming, questioning, and experimenting after a highly organic learning process. In many ways, these teachers are more equipped to reflect on the learning of students because the creative processes that led to the products and artifacts they are examining are so rich. Creative processes build deep relationships between learners and the teacher guiding and supporting them. Furthermore, teachers who work to develop student creativity get even more insight into learners’ progress on learning goals because they bear witness to students forming learning relationships with themselves. As students increase the control they have over their learning contexts, previously unseen qualities may become evident. For example, we may see students relish the opportunity to ask their own questions. We may see them hesitate as they wonder how to approach a challenge. We might witness their frustration and then pride as problems emerge and they overcome them, and observe them taking risks and collaborating with others. Students may also document many of these processes in creative portfolios. This kind of learning and the documentation that can accompany it nurtures a deep knowledge of our learners, so when the time comes to verify learning goals, teachers can make a professional judgment with confidence. With these criteria in front of them and the knowledge of their learners in hand, educators can engage in summative assessment that truly reflects the learning they want to see from students.
Formative Assessment (Information Gathering)
While summative assessment is a critical aspect of our work as teaching professionals, formative assessment is truly the bread and butter of developing creativity. During the creative process, formative assessment serves to propel the growth and development of ideas. At every stage of the creative process, from exploration to elaboration and expression, formative assessment serves as the basis for decision making and refinement because it connects what is happening in the moment to a desired future state.
During the creative process, formative assessment will occur in a variety of ways. Teachers may choose to use more traditional assessment methods like quizzes and student practice work to determine student needs. Alternately, they may choose to use organic methods, like observation or questioning, to collect assessment information. The power of formative assessment rests in the quality of information gathered and the alignment to goals and success criteria. The use of portfolios can support decision making by both teachers and students by making the various iterations of creative thinking visible. A purposeful collection of artifacts that represent the various creative stages can support reflection at all stages and, most significantly, in the final stage of reflection and response.
Both students and teachers craft goals and engage in exploration that serves the key questions guiding the learning. Through embedded reflection, self-assessment, and engagement with criteria for success, students journey through the creative process in personally meaningful ways. Feedback sessions, during which students and teachers analyze efforts in relation to goals, ensure that students feel their efforts are heading in a desired direction. Indeed, without this continuous formative assessment built into the creative classroom, imagination would suffer, risk taking would lack purpose, and products students produce would be meaningless. Formative assessment is the oil in the creative engine, and it is a primary way we can ensure that students develop the ability to sit in the driver’s seat. Administrator, teacher, and author Myron Dueck (2014) explains further, “Learning is greatly enhanced through individual creativity, ownership, and empowerment. When learners are given the opportunity to explain and reason using their own creative skills, they are better able to demonstrate evidence of learning” (p. 121). The importance of student engagement in the formative assessment process and the creativity it supports cannot be overstated.
Formative assessment is critical for the growth of creativity, and teachers will certainly play a pivotal role in gathering formative data and making sure students progress in the development of essential skills and understanding. Perhaps a quick exit ticket at the end of class might let us know which students are effectively moving toward intended outcomes and which have hit a roadblock. There may come a time during creative learning when we educators give a quiz to determine whether our learners are developing a critical understanding necessary for deepening their creative efforts. Perhaps a teacher spends time observing students so she can follow up with a targeted conversation that both identifies a student need and provides the instruction required to address the need. Formative assessment is one way to ensure students’ creative efforts yield the intended learning. See the reproducible “Applying Assessment Within the Stages of the Creative Process” (pages 45–46) for information on how formative assessment and other types of assessment apply within each stage of the creative process. Important by-products of formative assessment during the creative process are the feedback relationships we establish with our students and the relationships learners develop with themselves through self-assessment. The processes of feedback and self-assessment that emerge from formative assessment are critical to creativity, and we want to be sure we utilize them to maximum impact.
Feedback (Dialogue With Others)
Effective feedback translates formative assessment information into a dialogue for growth and learning. Feedback within a creative experience often emerges organically from a mutual quest to solve a problem or express an idea. In a classroom, the learner is striving to make sense of something personally meaningful, and the teacher or a peer may act as a mirror, reflecting experiences back to the learner to help the learner truly see what is in front of him or her. This is important in a creative endeavor because at times creativity can feel all-consuming and the creator may hunger for a way to step back from his or her efforts for a while and see them with fresh eyes. Therefore, effective feedback should include describing what is happening, noticing processes and decisions before making a judgment about their effectiveness. Feedback slows down creativity just a little, so students can explore things from various viewpoints, allowing powerful conversations between a creator and a trusted friend or advisor. A conferring session with a teacher or a conversation with a peer can be the very thing students need to move into the next stage of creative thinking.
Feedback may also emerge from a shared exploration of criteria for success. A learner might ask, “Does what I am creating accomplish my desired outcomes? Am I sharing my ideas in a way that makes sense? Have I overlooked some aspect of the problem I am trying to solve?” In this way, feedback may sound a great deal like a conversation, where both parties are alternating between asking questions and expressing ideas. (For more information on assessment through conversation, see chapters 3 and 4, pages 67 and 103.) The key is to return consistently to the goals that drive the creative process. Feedback conversations are a chance to remind students of what they were setting out to do and to review their criteria for success. How will you know when your efforts have been successful? What will a quality result look like and sound like to you? How will you know when you are finished? Questions like these allow students to take stock of where they are in this moment and plan next steps.
Feedback can exist in service of a current creative effort and serve future creative efforts. Teachers might ask a question that invites students to think about their creative processes, instead of saying to learners, “Here is how I suggest you fix this [current, specific challenge].” Potential questions to ask include, “Why did you make this choice? How did you decide? What was effective or ineffective in your approach? How might you approach this differently next time?” Questions like these invite students to focus not only on their current efforts but also on their strategic approaches to creative work. Open-ended questions ensure the decision making rests with the learner, and they are a way for teachers (and peers) to develop processes that lead to refined results on future creative efforts. See the reproducible “Applying Assessment Within the Stages of the Creative Process” (pages 45–46) for information on how feedback and