FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE assessment. What's the difference anyway? Formative assessment is a means of continually checking the progress of the learner throughout the learning cycle, whereas Summative Assessment judges the students achievement on a topic at the end of instruction, for example, a unit test. The frequency and type of feedback given can be the most influential component in making a difference with the students.

Fig.1: Placement of Formative and Summative Assessment

Formative assessment serves two main purposes that are related to how people learn best. It informs both teacher and student on the progress of a student's learning, benefitting the teacher so that instruction may be adjusted, and the student to encourage him/her to take responsibility for their own learning. 

Fig.2: Informal Feedback

Giving feedback to students is a powerful tool in helping them be successful, especially for low achievers. Teachers should not confuse good feedback as gold stars and grades since these types of rewards only create students who find ways to receive them and don't bother to learn the content. (Black, 1998). Further, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam found that grades are not the best motivation for achievement, and sometimes act as a block to success. What works best, they say, are comments without grades. 

Fig.3: Formal Feedback

Feedback can be both informal and formal in nature. We can describe informal feedback as a dialogue between the student(s) to correct or affirm a behavior. This type of talk should explore the nature of the students' understanding and give the student an opportunity to think and express their ideas. (Black, 1998) We can think of formal feedback as a graded assignment with thoughtful comments given to the student on his/her work. As you can see a grade or score is not given and that is not to say that grades are never given, just not in a formative assessment.

For teachers, giving feedback to students can quickly turn into getting feedback themselves. By determining what individual students know (or don't know), the teacher has a chance to adjust their instruction based on the needs of the students. This adjustment may be as simple as reteaching the lesson or it could be an opportunity for enrichment or further instruction. (O'Connor, 2002)

And for students, good feedback helps them reflect on their own knowledge and gain a deep and rich understanding of the topic. If they are given the opportunity to improve and learn from mistakes, they will develop a sense of responsibilty and competency in their own learning. The most beneficial type of feedback for students should involve an explanation as to what is accurate and what is inaccurate. (Marzano, 2001) 

Fig.4: Effect Size

The research conducted by Black and Wiliam show significant learning gains measured as effect size. Effect size is found by comparing the average scores of a group of students involved in the research and the scores of similar students on the same tests. The result is units of standard deviation. For example, and effect size of 1.0 would mean that the students involved in the study scored 1 standard deviation greater than students not involved. (Marzano, 2001) In Black and Wiliam's case, they found that the typical effect sizes of their formative assessment studies were between 0.4 and 0.7.

When we look at the research it makes sense that every teacher might want to consider revising their curriculum to implement the formative assessment strategies in their classrooms. However, it is never as easy as that. The challenge lies in changing teachers', parents', and students' views of what effective assessment practices look like. (National Research Council, 2000) For now, a major first step is to encourage educators to, at the very least, take a closer look at their own assessment practices.

Angela Hernandez, EDTEC Graduate Student

Hernandez, A. (2005). Formative Assessment and Feedback. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology.