Formative and Summative Assessments

Before we begin discussing formative and summative assessments, let’s first define assessment. According to Black and William, an assessment is a set of activities that teachers and students undertake to get information that can be used diagnostically to alter teaching and learning to meet student needs. This is, but not limited to: teacher observations, classroom discussion, interviewing/conferencing, and analysis of student work. The term assessment has such a broad meaning that understandably complicates the application of summative/formative assessing. It is the job of educators to decipher teaching and learning points that correlate with these two assessments. Formative assessments is any means by which a teacher figures out what students are and are not getting in the classroom. They provide feedback for the purpose of teaching and learning, but not for the purposes of grading (Garies, 2007). Summative assessment is a formal method of assessment, based on facts. This formal method confirms student knowledge about previously learned concepts or units of study, (i.e., high stake testing, state common core testing, and end of unit exams.) Formative assessment is part of the educator’s instruction, providing the student with constant constructive feedback to harness learning objectives. Formative assessments enable students to develop a sense of individuality within their studies and directs learning in the classroom. On the other hand, summative assessments result in definitive grades for students. They are a summary of the student’s knowledge of material and provide practical, real documentation of student progress. Summative assessments are oriented on exact grads that in some cases, create statistics for determining allocated funds for school districts. In order for summative assessments to be valid, reliable and practical, the material covered should be clearly defined in

lessons and must coincide with teaching material. This validates the use of summative assessments and creates benchmarks for our educators. Both summative and formative assessments provide a different set of objectives for educator and student. Formative assessments should be given on a more regular basis and should be used to allow for change in instruction. This change in instruction brings about variations of teaching points and learning objectives based on results from formative assessments. The summative assessment is a reflection of this variation, presenting an assessment that is designed for the purpose of grading and verifying the effectiveness of curriculum (Peterson & Siadat, 2009). These verifying objectives are the rhyme and reason for correlating formative and summative assessments. Without one or the other, they become obsolete and do not fully utilize their potential. This said, if assessments are not reaching potential, we can’t expect our student’s to reach theirs either. Formative and summative assessments if used collaboratively and evaluated fully, will benefit our educators and make for a more lucrative opportunity for students as well.