Formative assessment monitors student performance and progress during learning. It is usually low-stakes and ungraded. They can be used to see if students are making progress toward a learning goal, or to get immediate feedback.

✅ Pros

Summative assessments are used to measure student achievement at the end of instruction. They're usually scored and recorded. They can be used to determine if students grasped skills and concepts after a unit, semester, or school year.

• Teachers and students get immediate feedback
• Helps teachers learn what is effective/ ineffective
• Identifies struggling students early

❌ Cons

• May not be taken seriously
• Can require extra work for teachers
  

✅ Pros

• Results can provide important data and insights to teachers

❌ Cons

• Can lead to anxiety in some students
• May not be an accurate measure of students actually know
• Since they happen at the end of instruction, teachers have no chance to improve methods that didn't work

Diagnostic assessments evaluate strengths, weakness, and prior knowledge. They help teachers know how to differentiate their instruction for classes and individual students.

✅

• Allows teachers to figure out what needs to be retaught
• Gives teachers information about each students' levels

❌

• Takes time from instruction
• Could lead to biases toward or against certain students
  

Example:
Pre-test on identifying the parts of speech in a sentence before starting a grammar unit

Performance-based assessment measures one or more specific course standards, and it is complex, authentic, process/ product-oriented, open-ended, and time-bound (Hilliard, 2015).

"Authentic assessment aims to evaluate students' abilities in 'real-world' contexts. In other words, students learn how to apply their skills to authentic tasks and projects. It focuses on students' analytical skills; ability to integrate what they learn; creativity; ability to work collaboratively; and written and oral expression skills. It values the learning process as much as the finished product"
(Authentic Assessment Overview, 2001).

✅

• Uses higher- level thinking
• Allows students to show different strengths

❌

• Time consuming
• Difficult to grade fairly

Example:
Students do a presentation based on an interview they conduct with a member or the community

"A purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student’s efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas. The collection must include student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for selection, the criteria for judging merit and evidence of student self-reflection" (itslearning.com).

A high stakes assessment is any test that is used to make important decisions about students, educators, or districts.

✅

• Can provide valuable data to shape curriculum
• Can help pinpoint weaknesses

❌

• Can result in negative consequences that put schools that are struggling at a further disadvantage
• Provide a limited picture of student understanding

Example:
AP English Exam, which can provide college credit to those who score highly

Example:
Students save a piece of their best writing in every style studied during high school. Before graduation, they present their portfolio with reflections on why they wrote and chose what they did.

✅

• Students practice self-assessment and self-reflection
• Encourages students to take pride in their accomplishments and recognize their strengths

❌

• Requires a lot of time and foresight to be successful
• Can be difficult/ time consuming to judge

Self-assessments require students to determine how well they're meeting learning objectives and standards. Ideally students will help determine what constitutes success. This allows students to become even more invested in their work.

✅

• Students have to think critically about their goals
• Students consider where they could improve and where they are strong

❌

• Only works if students are honest and critical of their work
• May require practice for realistic goal setting and accurate evaluation

Peer assessments require students to determine how well a classmate (or classmates) are meeting learning objectives and standards. It helps students learn to give constructive feedback. It also introduces students to other perspectives and lets them compare their own progress to that of their peers.

✅

• Allows students to practice communication skills
• Gives students more varied feedback

❌

• Requires honesty and tact for effectiveness
• Students may not take it seriously

Example
Students write a rough draft of a research paper then take turns assessing three other students papers with a rubric the class writes together. :

Example:
Students assess their success on a narrative writing assignment based on a rubric the class creates together.

✅

• Can make learning come alive
• Encourages students to think about how their learning can affect their life outside of school

❌

• Can be difficult to grade
• Requires more self-motivation

Example:
Students create a 3D scene that displays the setting of a classroom novel and include a short explanation of the textual evidence they used to create their scene.

Example:
Students complete an exit ticket that asks them if they know what a preposition is.

Ipsative Assessment measures student progress by evaluating current student performance based on previous achievement. It gives them feedback on how they have improved from one assignment to the next.

✅

• Can provide students with pride in their accomplishments
• Can be more encouraging to see progress than a letter grade

❌

• Lacks immediate feedback
• Can be disappointing if students progress slowly

Example:
Students write a paper based on rubric, get feedback and suggestions for improvement. After more instruction, they write another paper with the same general requirements and are assessed based on how much they improvedl

References:

Ronan, A. (2015, April 29). Every Teacher's Guide to Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/summative-and-formative-assessments/

A Detailed Comparison Between Formative and Summative Assessment. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://eduzenith.com/comparison-between-formative-summative-assessment

Hilliard, P., PHD. (2015, December 7). Performance-Based Assessment: Reviewing the Basics. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/performance-based-assessment-reviewing-basics-patricia-hilliard

High-Stakes Test Definition. (2014, August 18). Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/high-stakes-testing/

Portfolio Assessment. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://files.itslearning.com/help/en-us/content/courses/portfolio_assessment.htm

Authentic Assessment Overview. (2001, January 26). Retrieved from https://www.teachervision.com/authentic-assessment-overview?page=2

Robinson, D. (2017). Principles of Assessment. Retrieved from https://as.exeter.ac.uk/academic-policy-standards/tqa-manual/lts/peerselfassessment/