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assessment in the classroom allows educators to ask and answer vital questions: Are students actually learning what they were intended to learn? Are they making progress? How can teachers adapt their instructional tools and methods in order to improve the learning experience and academic outcomes for all students?
Methods for gauging student progress and learning can range from brief in-person teacher observation to sophisticated software programs that measure a multitude of data points.
Along this continuum, a variety of assessment strategies can be applied, including interim, benchmark, diagnostic, and screening assessments. At each end of the assessment spectrum lie two often-used types of assessments: formative and summative.
Many educators are likely familiar with these terms, but may sometimes feel lost in the terminology. How do they differ? How are they applied? And what are the purposes of these two different types of assessment? In this article, we’ll define formative and summative assessment in the classroom, explore the differences between them, and share a few examples of each.
What Is Formative Assessment?
In a nutshell, formative assessment can be thought of as checkups to monitor and evaluate students’ progress during the course of their learning. The word “during” is key, as this type of assessment gives teachers feedback to help them improve student learning outcomes in real time. With formative assessment, teachers have constant opportunities to shift and adapt their instruction.
“Formative assessments guide instruction and are, arguably, the most powerful assessment tool an educator has at their disposal,” writes Peter McLaren, executive director of Next Gen Education and Into Science author. “Similar to a GPS device in an automobile, the teacher can use formative assessment to ‘recalculate’ and move the students back on the right road.”
Formative assessment can take many forms, among them quizzes, class games, on-the-spot evaluations, teacher observation, and exit tickets. For example, a science teacher might design an exit ticket for a lesson on states of matter by handing out an informal end-of-class query asking students to name an example of a solid, liquid, and gas. These “mini quizzes” can give the teacher a quick overview of students’ overall understanding of the concepts taught.
Formative assessment presents an opportunity for the teacher to personalize instruction to the unique needs of each student. Insights gleaned from ongoing formative assessment can guide the teacher to adapt lesson plans and offer alternative methods of instruction. For example, a student who is failing to grasp a concept after completing a worksheet might benefit from a class game that practices the same skills and concepts.
Formative assessment tends to be qualitative; teachers often use them to just get a “quick read” on how well a student is progressing. Even observing students as they work and jotting down notes can be a type of formative assessment.
While formative assessment is often informal, it can still be rigorous. We consider this in our own HMH programs; for example, by using data from Waggle to give highly targeted suggestions for practice and instruction, or by being strategic and specific in teacher-facing formative assessment suggestions in the teacher’s edition of our core offerings such as Go Math or Into Reading.
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