Formative Assessment And Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies The key to assessment strategies and timing is balance. Garrison and Ehringhaus (2014) claim that “when a comprehensive assessment program at the classroom level balances formative and summative student learning/achievement information, a clear picture emerges of where a student is relative to learning targets and standards.” Specifically throughout s course’s sequence or semester, there will be a summative assessment at the conclusion of the course. Other than the final or culminating assessment for the course, summative assessments should be kept to a reasonable number, in order to reduce the possibility of increasing student anxiety. Summative assessments, should also only be given following an adequate amount of formative assessment with opportunity to demonstrate growth. According to the National Council of Teachers of English (Formative Assessment That Truly Informs, 2013), formative assessments in the classroom can be

Many experts have become critical of the amount of testing and the amount of time that students spend on testing. Greg Jouriles (2014) provides two arguments against standardized testing: standardized testing is unnecessary because they rarely show what we don’t already know and costs associated with it are too high. Alfie Kohn (2000) proposes placing less importance on standardized testing as a means of improving education because, “standardized tests are unfair because the questions require a set of knowledge and skills more likely to be possessed by children from a privileged background”, “affluent families, schools, and districts are better able to afford such products (test preparation materials), and the most effective versions”, and “testing pressures lead to a more systematic use of low-level, drill and skill teaching, often in the context of packaged