The use of open-ended items for giving feedback during the formative assessment process

Feedback plays an important role in classroom learning and teaching process. This study focuses on how feedback can be more effectively used in the formative assessment process. According to this purpose, the study first discusses the concept of student achievement and presents its changing nature in the 21st century. Subsequently, the study addresses higher-order thinking skills, the use of open-ended items in improving student achievement in the classroom, rubrics, formative assessment, and feedback. The study aims to present an exemplary measurement and assessment model that will contribute to the development of student achievement. Additionally, it examines the use of a feedback approach that will improve the power of using the knowledge of the students learned in lessons in daily life by associating it with basic life skills in the formative assessment process. Accordingly, teachers are provided with a unique means that they can easily use in improving classroom success. In the study, an open-ended item has been developed that has a real-life counterpart is used to provide information on the improving of student achievement, while a rubric used in scoring the answers to the item is also developed. The answer categories in the rubric show the place of the student in the distribution of success. Thus, teachers will be able to see what students can and cannot do, as well as be able to give accurate and realistic feedback on what needs to be done for the development of student achievement.