…guide teaching and learning.
Hello and welcome to the 79th edition of our fortnightly newsletter, Things in Education.
We have written and spoken about how formative and summative assessments may be confused. There have also been been multiple occasions where we have had to deeply discuss the difference between these in our teacher sessions. We think that the underlying reason for the confusion between these types of assessments is that there are multiple ways in which they are defined or even used. In today’s edition, we write about what is common between summative and formative assessments, what is different, and if a test can simultaneously be formative and summative.
Scenario 1
A school conducts six formative assessments per term as part of their school calendar. The assessments are pre-scheduled, and all formative assessments are finished one month before the term examinations. The students get results of their formative assessments before the start of their term examinations. Some of these formative assessments will be counted toward their final grade, while others won’t.
Are these really formative assessments?
Scenario 2
The NEP 2020 has mentioned that formative assessments should be a focus of teaching going forward. It has also recommended that weekly holistic progress be monitored for all students. A school is conducting tests at the end of every week, filling in the student scores of these weekly tests as part of the holistic progress charts in line with the NEP 2020 recommendation. The school management securely stores these scores on their student progress in a digital form.
Are these really formative assessments?
Scenario 3
A teacher asks one question at the end of every class and asks students to write down their responses on a piece of paper. She collects the papers from every student while she leaves. She goes through the responses. She tweaks her lessons depending on the responses of the students. She does not discuss these responses with the students. She doesn’t want to demotivate the students who are not doing well and she doesn’t want the students doing well to become complacent. She does this type of assessment in every class.
Are these really formative assessments?
What were your responses to the three scenarios? All yes? All no? No for the first two, and yes for the third? No for the second and third, but yes for the first? Or were you not sure if any of these were really formative assessments?
All of the above responses are valid. And that is the point! Whether an assessment is formative or summative is not based on what we call them, but based on the purpose of the assessment. If we use ‘the purpose of the assessment’ as the only lens through which to ascertain the type of assessment, it starts becoming clearer. Or maybe murkier.
Here is a quick checklist to help:
Does your teaching plan as a teacher change based on the results of the assessment?
Do the students get feedback on what areas they are doing well in and what areas they need to put in more time or practise in?
Are the scores getting counted toward a final grade?
Is your formative assessment a part of a checklist, which is going to be reported to some authority - school management or government body?
Are the scores of the assessments going to be reported to some authority?
Is your performance as a teacher going to be evaluated based on these scores?
Is the school’s performance going to be evaluated based on these scores?
Whenever you are conducting assessments, if your response to the first two questions is yes, and your response to the rest of the questions is no, only then are the assessments that you are carrying out purely formative. Any other combination of answers means it is either a summative assessment, a diagnostic assessment or a combination of formative and summative assessments.
Let’s go back to the scenarios. In scenario 1, students do get feedback on their performance before the term examination, but teachers are not going to use the information to change their teaching plan–so there is an element of formative assessment in them. And as some of these scores are going to be counted toward the students’ grades–so there is an element of summative assessment in them.
In scenario 2, the only reason weekly assessments are happening is because of the checklist and the scores are reported to the school management. These are not formative assessments at all. Just because the inspiration of the process at this school was the NEP 2020 speaking about formative assessment, it does not make it a true formative assessment.
In scenario 3, the teacher is actually making changes to her teaching plan based on students’ responses. She is keeping a record of which are the students who are struggling and the ones who are doing well. These are all signs pointing toward it being a formative assessment. The only thing missing is that the students don’t get feedback based on these assessments. In fact, in this scenario, we can go through the checklist and we will realise that there are no traits of summative or diagnostic assessments (questions 3 -7).
In conclusion, the definition of formative and summative assessment don’t matter. It doesn’t matter when you are conducting it, how you are conducting it or where you are conducting it. The only thing that matters is the purpose of the assessment. If the purpose of the assessment is to get feedback for action to both teachers and students, it is a formative assessment. Any other purpose would then probably point toward summative or diagnostic assessment. And in the real world of teaching, with all the constraints that there are in terms of teachers’ time and students’ time, it is understandable that some assessments are a combination of summative and formative parts. But what teachers and students take away from these assessments and how it shapes their teaching and learning plans is what makes an assessment formative.
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Edition: 3.27
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