Assessment Strategies : Formative And Summative

“Tests today are not like the tests most parents took when they were in school. New forms of teaching students' work are already in use, and even more changes will be coming in the years ahead. The term "assessment" has come into common use to describe these new ways of measuring students' accomplishments.

Assessment, both formative and summative, plays a significant part in the learning experience as it determines progression and enables learners to demonstrate that they have achieved their desired learning outcomes.

There are targeted learning goals for all students, and these are based on standards that are set by those higher up than the teachers (Black, 2007). There are many ways that formative assessments can be used, and many formats in which they can be appeared. It is important that they are distinguished from summative assessments, however, and there are several ways in which that can be done (Black & William, 1998; Blatchford,

Assessment is an essential part of the teaching and learning process. Assessment is most effective when there is alignment between the outcomes, the design of assessment tasks, the criteria, marking procedures and feedback provided; this referred to as constructive alignment (Potter & Kustra, 2012). The purpose of an assessment, and the modes and strategies used will depend on a number of factors. Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment are three modes of assessment that may be used. While each of these modes of assessment has a particular purpose, the underlying purpose of all assessments is to promote student learning (Brady & Kennedy, 2012).

I liked this idea because, after all, formative assessments, by definition, are ones that occur while knowledge is still being learned. Summative assessments, by definition, occur at the end of learning (ie, a final exam). That meant quizzes and unit tests could, and should, be considered formative assessments and, furthermore, should be used as learning tools.

Black and Wiliam (1998) highlighted the power of assessment to provide feedback, the importance of social context of learning, and some issues related to distinction between the formative and summative purpose of assessment. They also found the beneficial effects of formative assessment toward students learning have been well documented in the literature. However, Hattie and Jaeger (1998) criticize Black and Wiliam’s review because their position strongly supported the importance of assessment and feedback for teaching while neglecting learning. Hattie (2005) suggests assessment is about teaching as much as it is about learning. For formative assessment to deliver its promise, feedback must relate to how students learn. According to Hattie, a comprehensive theory of formative assessment must include a theory of learning because it is not necessarily the learner who has a problem; it may the teacher or teaching that needs remediation. Whereas, Popham (2008) defines formative assessment as a planned process during which the teacher or students use assessment-based evidence to adjust ongoing learning and instruction. Further, Hattie and Jaeger (1998) proposed five postulates of formative

Assessments have been used in the classroom throughout the years as feedback to educators on how effective they are at teaching and how well students are learning. Since school’s decision-making is being predicated off assessment scores, they are increasingly becoming more important. “Assessment affects decisions about grades, placement, advancement, instructional needs, curriculum, and, in some cases, funding” (Edutopia, 2008, para. 1). With more and more reliance on assessments, it forces educators to take a step back and reflect on their lessons in order to ensure that all accommodations and strategies are in place to promote student success. Among those strategies, teachers must be able to “demonstrate skills at selecting, developing, applying, using, communicating, and evaluating student assessment information and student assessment practices”(Buros, 2014, pg.1). While reflecting on my own skills or competencies involving student’s assessment, I have found that my strengths lie in administering, scoring, and interpreting assessments; and choosing assessment methods appropriate for instructional decisions. On the other side, my weaknesses lie in developing valid grading procedures that incorporate assessment information. This paper will analyze these strengths and weaknesses and examine how they impact the development of assessment inside the classroom.

Assessments are integral parts of instruction, they determine whether classroom goals have been achieved, and help teachers know what areas they should focus on and maybe reteach. They are great tools for developing lesson plans and answer questions such as; “do my students possess full understanding of the material?” There are many ways of assessing students’ learning, one of which I have personal experience with are on-the-spot assessments.

When a teacher introduces the idea of formative assessment to a classroom, modifications may need to be made for it to work its purpose. The teacher might need to alter their teaching method and the student will need to be open to changing their learning style to accommodate the change. If both the teacher and students can achieve this, then formative assessment will be successful (al., C. E., 2016). If unsuccessful then formative assessment can be seen by both the teacher and student in a negative light. For example, The Classroom Experiment (Barry, 2010), showcased a range of different formative assessment techniques that can be quite successful in the classroom. One technique that Dylan Wiliam posed was that the teachers give each student

Educational organizations from this study may understand that there has been a general lack of conceptual clarity with regard to the formative assessment practices among stakeholders as a result of which, many apparently formative assessment tools and procedures have, in effect, been summative in nature that is assessment to gauge, at a particular point in time. Although the information gleaned from this type of assessment is important, it can only help in evaluating certain aspects of the teachers' abilities and skills but the point and purpose of this study is to implement peer observation strategy to ‘enhance’ rather than ‘measure’ professional learning.

There are a range of assessment for learning strategies that can be used to help students develop language, literacy and numeracy. These strategies can be integrated in classes where students demonstrate a diverse range in language, literacy and numeracy skills (LLN). William (2009) outlined 5 assessment for learning strategies that can be used to assist teachers in creating assessments that are not only summative but as ongoing formative activates that students can benefit from. In this essay we will explore 4 of the strategies from the original 5 mentioned by William (2009) and discuss how they can be integrated in the classroom and how feedback can be provided to both students and their parents. The 4 strategies include clarifying learning

The modern educational system is characterized by an increase demand for accountability and high-stakes testing. The demand for such accountability and testing is demonstrated in the quest for the use of summative assessments that provide a summary of the learning progress of students. Generally, the push for increased accountability and high-stakes testing has contributed to the use of different kinds of assessments that are administered at the state, district, school, and national levels. The use of these various kinds of assessments is not only geared towards realization of increased accountability but also act as a means for comparing and ranking students and schools. An example of the type of assessments that can be used in this process is formative assessments for various topics such as mathematics. Formative assessments are defined as systematic procedures of collecting evidence regarding students’ learning to inform teaching practices and help students progress towards the achievement of a learning goal. There are various kinds of activities used in formative assessments including group activities.

Almost every teacher keeps track and records of summative assessments mainly because it showcases a student’s understanding level through grading at the end of a learning session. But it is also important to keep track and records of formative assessments too because it is done during the learning process.

Students may not take it as seriously as summative assessment. It can be a time taking process. Students need different kinds of formative assessment at different stages in their learning.[2]

These assessments are used to gather information about what students already know and are able to do. The project also points out formative assessments as evaluations that occur throughout the learning process and adds that various formative assessments provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate attainment of identified targeted goals without concerns about grading (Assessment, para. 2). In her Learn NC article entitled “Summative Assessment,” Heather Coffey acknowledges the fact that summative assessments can determine whether long term goals have been met at the end of a unit or course. She adds that high quality summative information can assist teachers in organizing their curricula and course options for students (Coffey, para. 1).