Formative Assessment in Designing and Refining Long-Term Professional Development

Educators from the Boise State Writing Project studied together and created units of study across the curriculum that give students opportunities to be citizen historians.

The instructional resources contained in this article are designed to develop specific argument skills and include text sets that represent multiple perspectives on a topic. The resources also emphasize iterative reading and writing practices, the recursive development of claims, organizing and structuring writing, and embedding formative assessment opportunities. The formative assessment tools help teachers assess students' written arguments and provide specific feedback.