ASSESSMENT:

FORMATIVE & SUMMATIVE

Practices for the Classroom
NC TEACH April 2010

Think About It! Group Activity with
Graphic Organizer
What is the difference between teaching
and telling?
What is the difference between assessing
and grading?
What is the difference between teaching
and learning?
What is assessment?
Assessment for learning is best described as a
process by which assessment information is
used by teachers to adjust their teaching
strategies, and by students to adjust their
learning strategies.
Assessment, teaching and learning are
inextricably linked, as each informs the others.
Assessment is a powerful process that can
either optimize or inhibit learning, depending on
how its applied.

Planned and Communicated
Assessment for learning should be built into
teachers planning as a part of everyday
classroom practice.
Learning goals, teaching strategies and
assessment criteria should be carefully matched.
Students should know in advance what they will
learn, as well as how and why they are to be
assessed. Teachers plans should be flexible so
that they can make changes in response to new
information, opportunities or insights.
Planned and Communicated
The planning needs to include strategies to check
students understanding of the goals they are pursuing
and the criteria that will be applied in assessing their
work.
How students will receive feedback, how they will take
part in assessing their learning and how they will be
helped to make further progress should also be planned.
A teachers planning should provide opportunities for
both student and teacher to obtain information about
progress towards learning goals, and use it to direct the
learning process.


Your Turn!
As you view the video, take notes on how
the teacher gathers, interprets, and uses
information to guide the learning of the
students.
What was the objective? How does the
teacher know if the students achieved it?
Assess the teachers behaviors in regards
to the planning, execution, and monitoring
of the lesson.
Why Discuss Assessment?
A review of the data shows that there is a lot
of testing happening in most districts, but that
assessment does not necessarily drive
curriculum and instruction.
District educators indicated that the timeliness
of receiving data impacts their ability to use it
effectively.
Educators expressed a frustration related to
their ability to analyze and synthesize the
data.

Assessment in education is the process of
gathering, interpreting, recording, and
using information about pupils responses
to an educational task. (Harlen, Gipps,
Broadfoot, Nuttal,1992)

Individual Activity
Review the Anticipation Guide and
respond to the statements or answer the
questions.
Watch the video Research Connections
between Questioning/Learning, and use
the Anticipation Guide to answer any
questions you didnt know.


BALANCED CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
A process used by teachers
and students during instruction
that provides feedback to
adjust ongoing teaching and
learning to help students
improve their achievement of
intended instructional
outcomes.
A tool used after
instruction to measure
student achievement
which provides evidence
of student competence or
program effectiveness.

FORMATIVE SUMMATIVE
Occurs During Instruction
Not Graded
Process
Descriptive Feedback
Continuous



Occurs at the end
Graded
Product
Evaluative Feedback
Periodic

COMPARISON OF ASSESSMENTS

Possible Assessment Methods
Formative Assessment includes

Questions
Classroom Discussions
Learning Activities
Feedback
Conferences
Interviews
Student Self-Assessment

Summative Assessment

Selected Response
Multiple Choice
True/False
Matching
Fill-in
Extended Written Response
Performance Assessment
Formative and summative assessment are
interconnected. They seldom stand alone in
construction or effect.
The vast majority of genuine formative
assessment is informal, with interactive and timely
feedback and response.
It is widely and empirically argued that formative
assessment has the greatest impact on learning
and achievement.

1. Teachers value and believe in students.
2. Sharing learning goals with the students.
3. Involving students in self-assessment.
4. Providing feedback that helps students
recognize their next steps and how to take
them.
5. Being confident that every student can
improve.
6. Providing students with examples of what we
expect from them.
Values and Attitudes about Assessment
Formative Assessment
Assessment for learning
Taken at varying intervals throughout a
course to provide information and feedback
that will help improve
the quality of student learning
the quality of the course itself
learner-centered, teacher-directed,
mutually beneficial, formative, context-
specific, ongoing, and firmly rooted in good
practice" (Angelo and Cross, 1993).
Provides information on what an individual
student needs
To practice
To have re-taught
To learn next

Objectives: Grade 7

1.01 Develop and use ratios, proportions, and
percents to solve problems.
4.01 Collect, organize, analyze, and display
data to solve problems.

Develop an assessment for one or both of the
objectives using the Skittles.
Skittles Activity
1. The identification by teachers & learners of
learning goals, intentions or outcomes and criteria
for achieving these.
2. Rich conversations between teachers & students
that continually build and go deeper.
3. The provision of effective, timely feedback to
enable students to advance their learning.
4. The active involvement of students in their own
learning.
5. Teachers responding to identified learning needs
and strengths by modifying their teaching
approach(es).
Black & Wiliam, 1998
Key Elements of Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment
Assessment of learning
Generally taken by students at the end of a unit
or semester to demonstrate the "sum" of what
they have or have not learned.
Summative assessment methods are the most
traditional way of evaluating student work.
"Good summative assessments--tests and other
graded evaluations--must be demonstrably
reliable, valid, and free of bias" (Angelo and
Cross, 1993).

Formative

often means no more than
that the assessment is carried
out frequently and is planned at
the same time as teaching.
(Black and Wiliam, 1999)

provides feedback which
leads to students recognizing
the (learning) gap and closing it
it is forward looking
(Harlen, 1998)

includes both feedback
and self-monitoring. (Sadler,
1989)

is used essentially to feed
back into the teaching and
learning process. (Tunstall and
Gipps, 1996)
Summative

assessment (that) has
increasingly been used to sum
up learning(Black and Wiliam,
1999)

looks at past achievements
adds procedures or tests to
existing work ... involves only
marking and feedback grades to
student is separated from
teaching is carried out at
intervals when achievement has
to be summarized and reported.
(Harlen, 1998)
If we think of our children as plants
Summative assessment of the plants is the process of
simply measuring them. It might be interesting to
compare and analyze measurements but, in themselves,
these do not affect the growth of the plants.
Formative assessment, on the other hand, is the
equivalent of feeding and watering the plants appropriate
to their needs - directly affecting their growth.

The Garden Analogy

Factors Inhibiting Assessment
A tendency for teachers to assess quantity and
presentation of work rather than quality of
learning.
Greater attention given to marking and grading,
much of it tending to lower self esteem of
students, rather than providing advice for
improvement.
A strong emphasis on comparing students with
each other, which demoralizes the less
successful learners.

Self-evaluation
Where would you place your assessment practice on the
following continuum?

The main focus is on:
Quantity of work/Presentation Quality of learning
Marking/Grading
Comparing students
Advice for improvement
Identifying individual
progress
Forms of Summative Assessment
Performance Assessment
Portfolio
Traditional Tests
NC End of Grade/End of Course Tests

NC End of Grade/End of Course Test
Go to www.ncpublicschools.org
Click on Testing, Scroll down and click on 2008-
2009 Released Forms
Scroll down and click on the grade level and
content area you would like to review.
Spend the next 20 - 30 minutes taking the test and
checking your answers.
Grades k-2 - http://www.ncpublicschools.org/
curriculum/mathematics/elementary/


Implications for classroom practice
Share learning goals with students.
Involve students in self-assessment.
Provide feedback that helps students
recognize their next steps and how to take
them.
Be confident that every student can
improve.

Formative Assessment:
Cooperative Learning
Think about the characteristics of
formative assessment.
Does cooperative learning demonstrate
any of these characteristics?


Cooperative/Collaborative Learning
Cooperative and collaborative learning differ
from traditional teaching approaches because
students work together rather than compete with
each other individually.
Collaborative learning can take place any time
students work together (individual and group
accountability)
In a world where being a "team player" is often a
key part of business success, cooperative
learning is a very useful and relevant tool.
Cooperative/Collaborative Learning
Research suggests that cooperative and
collaborative learning bring positive results such
as deeper understanding of content, increased
overall achievement in grades, improved self-
esteem, and higher motivation to remain on task.
Cooperative learning helps students become
actively and constructively involved in content, to
take ownership of their own learning, and to
resolve group conflicts and improve teamwork
skills.

Formative Assessment
Observing cooperative learning groups in action
allows you to effectively assess students' work
and understanding. Cooperative learning groups
also offer a unique opportunity for feedback from
peers and for self-reflection.
Research has shown that when implemented
properly, students in cooperative learning
classrooms outperform their peers in traditional
classrooms.
Cooperative Structures
Fan-N-Pick
Played with higher-level
thinking Q cards. #1 fans, #2
picks, #3 answers, #4 praises.
Students then rotate roles.
Cooperative Structures
Numbered Heads Together
Students huddle to make sure all can
respond, a number is called, the student
with that number responds.
Paired Heads Together: Students in pairs
huddle to make sure they both can respond, an
A or B is called, the student with that letter
responds.
Cooperative Structures
Pass a Problem Review
Teams discuss topic written in the middle
of the map, and then cover with sticky
notes.
Teams record definitions, synonyms or
antonyms, symbols, graphs, etc. to
describe the topic or concept.
With the word covered, the charts are
passed to another group to see if they
can guess the word.
Cooperative Structures
Showdown
Teammates each write an answer,
then there is a showdown as they
show their answers to each other.
Teammates verify answers.
Cooperative Structures
Talking Chips
Students place their chip in the
center each time they talk; they
cannot speak again until all chips
are in the center and collected.
Cooperative Structures
Think-Pair-Share
Students think about their response to a
question, discuss answers in pairs, and
then share their own or partners answer
with the class.
Think-Pair-Square: Same except students
share their answers with teammates rather than
with the class.
Assessment
How can you use cooperative learning
activities to effectively assess your
students?
Closure
How has the information shared today
changed your views/thoughts about
assessment?
What questions do you still have regarding
assessment?
Do you feel confident that you can add the
assessment (s) to your lesson plan to
increase effectiveness and assist students
in mastery of the intended objectives?