ISSA member Open Academy Step by Step Croatia piloted an innovative project. The model was developed during the school year 2016/2017 in six selected schools in Croatia. In this project an innovative way of assessing children’s learning was introduced as well as an innovative way of involving Professional Learning Communities.

Formative Assessment refers to a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson or study period. What makes an assessment “formative” is not the design of a test, technique, or self-evaluation, per se, but the way it is used: for example, to inform in-process teaching and learning modifications.

In educational system, the most used assessments are summative. Summative Assessments are used to measure what children have learnt at the end of a school period (to ensure they have met required state standards) or as a method for selecting students for entry into further education.

About 30 teachers participated in a three-day training on Formative Assessment and its implications. After the training, OA Step by Step experts and mentors established Peer Learning Communities (PLC) within every school participating in the project. In each school six PLC meetings have been organized. During these meetings, teachers learned to use PLC for group reflection as a tool for introducing meaningful innovations in educational institutions. Participants discussed their experiences in implementation, successes, advantages and obstacles and sharing their ideas.

A final conference titled 'Formative monitoring - an opportunity, not an illusion' discussed the results of the implementation of Formative Assessment strategies in Croatia.

The conference was held in partnership with the Faculty of Teacher Education of the University of Rijeka. It was attended by 140 teachers, schools principals, university professors and representatives of the Education and Teacher Training Agency of Croatia.

Find out more here.