When It Comes to CFAs:
“Just the FACTS, Ma’am”
March 7, 2024
In education, we love our acronyms.
We got our IEPs and BMPs, all put into the SRS system that is different from the SIS program. And of course our LTs that are identified by our REAL process so we can KISS some CFAs. This is all part of PLC where…
Are you lost, yet?
Since there are so many, anyway, why don’t I just create a new one, and maybe it will be helpful? It’s an acronym for the criteria for a quality Common Formative Assessment (CFA).
CFAs: The lynchpin to improved instruction
To steal and modify a phrase from my childhood: Feedback is the breakfast of champions. This feedback is critical for not just students, but for teachers, as well. In order for us, as the adults, to get better at our craft, we need feedback. Enter the role of CFAs.
CFAs, or Common Formative Assessments, provide feedback to both students and teachers. If feedback is the breakfast of champions. CFAs are breakfast, lunch, AND dinner all rolled into one! When done well, they are magical in that they provide both students and staff with just-in-time feedback on learning and then become the drivers for improved practice and learning.
Unfortunately, not all CFAs are well done.
So this got me thinking…what are the critical aspects of a CFA that distinguish between those that are well done, providing a healthy dose of feedback, and those that are less-well done and end up simply checking a box for compliance?
Just the FACTS, ma'am
At the risk of adding another acronym to our already-laden field, consider the following criteria when thinking about your CFA: the FACTS. And just the FACTS, ma’am:
Frequent
Aligned
Common
Team-designed
Short
Let’s take each of these in order, starting with Frequent.
Frequent
CFAs that are impactful are frequent, meaning that we are not waiting any more than two to three weeks before having one, and sometimes as frequently as weekly (for periods of time). There is no hard and fast rule about how often to give a CFA other than this: Give them only as often as you can respond to them. A CFA that doesn’t lead to action is a wasted CFA. Wasted time for you to create, wasted time for students to take, wasted time for you to score. Just a bunch of wasted time.
Aligned
Aligned CFAs have two elements of alignment to them. First, they are targeted to what you want students to learn, and only that which the team considers as essential. Nice-to-know content has no business on a CFA. That would not be aligned. Second, the kind of evidence matches the type of target. If we are asking students to perform something, than the CFA would not be multiple-choice, and vice-a-versa. Alignment means that both the items align to the kind of targets, and that the content is truly essential.
Common
The C in FACTS stands for Common, meaning the same. The team decides together how and when it will be administered. Some teams might joyfully call this, “in the same way on the same day.” It’s common, and not something where one person does one thing and another person does another thing that is kind of similar but not quite. A common formative assessment, literally, is common–the same.
Team-Designed
Team-designed is one that seems to get missed in these days of unin-formative assessments that any number of educational companies are hawking. From textbook materials to district benchmarks to national normative measures, none of these qualify as a CFA, no matter what someone else might call them. Team-designed means exactly what it says: the team designs it.
When the team designs their CFA, this isn’t to say that they might not look at textbook materials or a district benchmark or some other measure. But it DOES mean that the team, at the school level, has the final say in deciding whether or not those prompts or items should be used. As the saying goes, there is no sense reinventing the wheel. However, you want to be sure to kick the tires.
Short
Finally, CFAs are Short. If you have to walk your students down to the computer lab, take 10 minutes for them to log in, take an assessment that’s 20 – 50 minutes long (or longer), wait for stragglers to finish, then haul back to class…that’s not a CFA. Most really great CFAs that meet their intended purpose of giving teachers and students feedback are five to 10 minutes long, or even shorter than that. That’s it. They are short.
Feedback Worthy of Champions
While feedback, by itself, has great potential for improving student learning, feedback in the form of CFAs is even more potent. Unfortunately, like many terms in education, the term moves quickly whereas the underlying understanding of the term does not. This has been the case with CFAs, where, in some corners, every assessment is called a CFA.
Knowing that clarity precedes competence, let’s identify CFAs when they truly are CFAs. If we stick to just the FACTS, ma’am, (Frequent, Aligned, Common, Team-designed, and Short) teams will have a greater likelihood of making that feedback truly worthy of the champions that they are.
Questions for Reflection
- What is your experience with feedback, formative assessments, and common formative assessments?
- How can you and your team improve your use of CFAs, using the FACTS (Frequent, Aligned, Common, Team-designed, and Short), to give you and students feedback that will lead to significant improvements in teaching and learning?
Rib Review
Due to a fluke, I was able to stop in Little Rock at Sims Barbecue, and boy did I hit the jackpot! Their ribs were, by far, the absolute best ribs I’ve ever had. The smokey flavor was perfect without being overpowering, and the rub also wasn’t overbearing. And the light, sweet sauce just added a little nice complement. And the price was pretty incredible with a nice stack of ribs, two sides, a muffin, and soda for about $15. There are several in Little Rock to choose from, and I would guess they are all similar in quality
Every time I’ve been in Indianapolis I have wanted to try Big Hoffa’s, as it’s a local favorite and hot-spot. And it did not disappoint. Unfortunately for them, they are being reviewed next to Sims in Arkansas, but fortunately for me, they were quite delicious. The rub was a little salty for my taste, but the overall flavor, together with their house sauce, made for a fine meal.
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