Formative and Summative Assessment: Trends and Practices in Basic Education

Abstract

At the basic education level, multiple perspectives on the purposes of assessment and the relationships between effective summative and formative assessments together present real, practical dilemmas and challenges for teachers, who are tasked with promoting pupils learning as well as certifying their performance. Formative assessment occurs throughout a class or course, and seeks to improve student achievement of learning objectives through approaches that can support specific student needs while Summative assessment sums up what a student has achieved at the end of a period of time, relative to the learning aims and the relevant state/national standards. In practice of balanced assessment, both summative and formative assessments are an essential part of information gathering. Depend too much on one at the expense of the other, the reality of pupils’ achievement in your classroom becomes unclear. A point to make about formative and summative at the basic education level is to question whether there is any value in making a distinction between them or whether the relationship is better considered as a dimension rather than a dichotomy.

Keywords: Basic education, Formative, Summative and Assessment

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-27-06

Publication date:September 30^th 2019