One of the most talked about and debated aspects of education in recent years have been assessments. More specifically, formative and summative assessments. These are the two most commonly used assessments and often times are misused and misunderstood. To put it simply, formative assessments are assessments FOR learning and summative assessments are assessments OF learning. An analogy to sports could be player performance. Performance in practice would be the formative assessment and performance in a game would the summative assessment.
Formative Assessments
Formative assessments are performed during instruction when learning is taking place and they provide feedback and information to both the teacher and students. This informal process is ongoing and the information collected should be used to fine-tune instruction and identify areas of improvement. A quality educator is constantly checking for understanding. Some examples of formative assessments that can be used are:
Summative Assessments
Summative assessments take place after learning has occurred and is used to provide information about the amount of student learning that has taken place. A formal grade is assigned at the completion of a summative assessment. Data collected from summative assessments can be used to evaluate the level of proficiency that has been achieved at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it to a standard. Examples of summative assessments:
Formative Assessments
Formative assessments are performed during instruction when learning is taking place and they provide feedback and information to both the teacher and students. This informal process is ongoing and the information collected should be used to fine-tune instruction and identify areas of improvement. A quality educator is constantly checking for understanding. Some examples of formative assessments that can be used are:
- Observations during class (think-pair-share, thumbs up thumbs down, shoulder partners, whiteboards, etc.)
- Homework and classwork
- Reflections
- Exit slips
- Question and answer
- Conferencing
Summative Assessments
Summative assessments take place after learning has occurred and is used to provide information about the amount of student learning that has taken place. A formal grade is assigned at the completion of a summative assessment. Data collected from summative assessments can be used to evaluate the level of proficiency that has been achieved at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it to a standard. Examples of summative assessments:
- Tests
- Projects
- Research or Term Papers