EDU Formative Assessment



EDU Formative Assessment

Introduction

This paper intends to discuss the various aspects of formative assessment. Moreover, distinction between formative and summative assessment will be analyzed in this paper. The purpose of this paper is to assess my favorite student interpretation schemes for standardized tests along with providing a discussion on the phrase of 'teaching to the test.'

Discussion

Formative Assessment

One important thing that class room teachers really need to know about formative assessment is the basic essence of this kind of assessment. It is not necessary that every teacher utilizes the tool of formative assessment for assessing his or her students. However, there is a need that every teacher must know what if formative assessment and how it works. Formative assessment basically is a process to assess the performance of the students for the purpose of making instructional decisions in a more informed and effective manner. Today's teaching is assumed to be connected with formative assessments immensely and it is important even for the teachers who do not utilize it to at least realize what formative assessment is and how does it work (Harry, 2008).

Difference between Formative and Summative Assessments

Formative assessment and summative assessment are two different things. Michael Scriven's ideas clarified all the basic distinction between the concepts of formative and summative assessments back in 1967. Scriven distinguished between the two concepts on the basis of evaluating the education mainly. Summative assessment basically refers to the collection of evidence which is mostly test based and provides information about the already accomplished instructional activities. On the other hand, formative assessment focuses on the current methods of teaching and the way students are grasping knowledge from it.

Moreover, formative assessment works with the aim for making the current instructional activities better for the purpose of enhancing the learning capabilities of students ...