Exploring assessment for learning

Formative and summative assessment

• An easy distinction between formative and summative assessment:
• Formative assessment is assessment for learning. Its focus is on future achievement.
• Summative assessment is assessment of learning. It assesses what has been learnt in the past.
• However, formative and summative assessment are interconnected. They seldom stand alone in construction or effect.
• “Using the terms ‘formative’ and ‘summative’ assessment can give the impression that these are different kinds of assessment or are linked to different methods of gathering evidence. This is not the case; what matters is how the evidence is used.” (Harlen, 2006)

Useful quotes

• “Formative assessment uses evidence about achievement to adapt instruction to meet learner needs.” (Wiliam, 2008)
• “Assessment for the purpose of improving student learning is best understood as an ongoing process that arises out of the interaction between teaching and learning.” (NZC, 2007)
• “Formative assessment is a planned process in which teachers or students use assessment-based evidence to adjust what they’re currently doing.” (Popham, 2008)
• “Students who have well developed assessment capabilities are able and motivated to access, interpret, and use information from quality assessment in ways that affirm or further their learning.” (Directions for Assessment in New Zealand, 2009)

What does the research say?

• In 1998 Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam of Kings College, London published their wide-ranging analysis of research into classroom-based assessment: Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment
• The article concludes with the statement: “There is a body of firm evidence that formative assessment is an essential feature of classroom work and that development of it can raise standards. We know of no other way of raising standards for which such a strong prima facie case can be made on the basis of evidence of such large learning gains.”
• For the full text of the article, go to: http://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1.pdf