Introduction:
Innovations that include strengthening the practice of formative assessment produce significant and often substantial learning gains.
-Black and William, 1998b, p. 140
This conclusion from influential review of research by Black and Wiliam (1998a, 1998b) on formative assessment has changed the face of assessment in current education system. This comprehensive review emphasises the potential of assessment in raising standards i.e. assessment for learning (AfL). During research, it was found that pupils gain achievement when teachers rely on formative assessment/s. Another outcome from their study claims that certain formative assessment practices greatly increased the achievement of low-performing pupils.
Summative assessment can be defined as summary assessments of individual pupil performance including tests, examinations and end-of-year marks. It can be used for promotion, certification or admission to higher levels of education. In contrast, formative assessment draws on information gathered in assessment process to identify learning needs and hence adjusting teaching accordingly. Summative assessment is also referred as assessment of learning whereas formative assessment, as assessment for learning.
The reason for raised importance of assessment derives from the increasing realisation of the value of continuous assessment in informing teaching and improving learning. In this essay, a brief description of the main features, principles and strategies that underpin the concept of both types of assessment has been discussed. Findings about their impact and effect on teaching and learning are presented. In the earlier section of this paper, rationale of assessment of learning and assessmen...
... middle of paper ...
...ting Formative and Summative Assessment: Progress Toward a Seamless System?”. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 58,OECD Publishing.
MacPhail, A. and Halbert, J. (2010) ‘ “We had to do intelligent thinking during recent PE”: students’ and teachers’ experiences of assessment for learning in post-primary physical education’. Assessment in education: principles, policy & practice, 17(1), 23-39.
Perrenoud, P. (1991). "Towards a Pragmatic Approach to Formative Evaluation," in Penelope Weston, ed., Assessment of Pupils' Achievement: Motivation and School Success. Amsterdam: Swets and Zeitlinger.
Webb, M. and Jones, J. (2009) ‘Exploring tensions in developing assessment for learning’. Assessment in education, 16(2), 165-184.
Working Group on 14–19 Reform ( 2004b ) . 14–19 curriculum and qualifications reform: final report of the Working Group on 14–19 Reform.
Elwood, J. (2006). Formative assessment: possibilities, boundaries and limitations. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 215-232, doi:10.1080/09695940600708653
Stiggins, R. J. (2006, November/December). Assessment for learning: A key to motivation and achievement. Edge, 2, 3-19.
Savage, J. & Fautley, M. (2008). Assessment for Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools. Dawsonera [Online]
Boud, D. (2000). Sustainable assessment: Rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in Continuing Education, 22(2), 151–167. doi:10.1080/713695728
Assessment for learning informs and promotes the achievement of all pupils, as it encourages them to take responsibility for their own learning. It focuses on the learning process and how to improve a child’s academic progression, finding out where pupils are within a learning range, where they need to go and how best to get them there. Lots of different assessment for learning strategies can be used to help pupils in their learning, and these can be adopted by teachers to gain an understanding of what has been achieved and what steps should be taken next in order to progress learning forward.
There is so much research out there on formative assessment. Unfortunately, there is not a great deal of empirical evidence that can directly such as the use of many suggest forms of formative assessment to gains on summative assessments (Dunn & Mulvenon, 2009).
Assessments have always been a tool for teachers to assess mastery and for a long time it was just to provide a grade and enter it into the grade book or report card. Through resources in and out of the course, there has been a breath of new life into the research on how to use assessments. They take many forms and fall within the summative or formative assessment category. Sloan (2016) addresses how formative assessments has traditionally been used by teachers to modify instruction, but when we focus on a classroom that is learner-centered “it becomes assessment for learning as opposed to assessment of learning” (slide 4). The fact is, the students are the ones that should be and are the ones using the data we collect through assessments, since it is our way of providing feedback in order
Formative Assessment is used in any classroom to check students understanding of a topic. The type of formative assessment used in each classroom is different, depending on the teacher and the student’s needs. Teachers should incorporate a variety of formative assessments to truly see if students are learning. Dixson and Worrell describe formative assessment as gathering data to improve student learning. They are correct but teachers also need to provide students with feedback. Feedback gives students a better idea of what concepts they need to work on in class. There are many ways to integrate formative assessment and feedback into the classroom.
Assessments are an important part of teaching. Assessments are a good way for teachers to monitor students’ learning and understanding. Knowing students’ level of understanding can help teachers improve students’ learning and guide their instructions. In the future, I plan to continue assessing students in multiple ways such as, asking questions, illustrations and writing to adjust my instruction. I also plan to encourage students to assess their own work so they are involved in their own learning as well as look for ways to “employ technology to support assessment
Assessment has been the greatest challenge in my development as a professional. My coursework as supported my growth in this area, especially in understanding the broad range of assessments used to support students’ growth and development. My courses have also supported my understanding of how ongoing observational assessment and standards-based measures can be used to inform instruction and support the cycle of observation, reflection and planning. Coursework
Referred to as “assessment of learning,” (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012, pg. 5) components of summative learning include evaluating, measuring, and making judgements about student knowledge, both on individual levels and group levels. Rather than supporting learning by way of formative assessment, summative assessment verifies learning, (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., Arter, 2012). Naturally, this is what interests educational stakeholders: administrators, parents, teachers, and those who create educational policies. (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012, pg. 5). Summative assessment historically and presently presents itself in the form of graded quizzes, tests, graded papers and presentations, district benchmark tests, state standardized tests, and college entrance
Assessment plays an integral part of the teaching and learning process by providing teachers with information on students’ developing mathematical capabilities (Booker, Bond, Sparrow, & Swan, 2010; Reys et al., 2012). Assessment is a daily requirement within the primary school context and when properly developed and interpreted can be used positively to encourage students, provide information to direct and modify teaching and learning activities, provide feedback to students about progress and contribute to reporting (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development [DEECD], 2009; Junpeng, 2012; New South Wales Department of Education and Communities, 2011). This essay will examine formative and summative assessment strategies teachers
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
Yeh, S.S. (2010). Understanding and addressing the achievement gap through individualized instruction and formative assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy, & Practice. 17(2), 169-182.