Formative and Summative Assessment

Formative assessment can be known as assessment for learning, while summative

assessment can be known as assessment of learning (Houston & Thompson, 2017). This
means that formative assessment is the assessment we use when covering a topic and
summative assessment is what we use when a topic has been covered, or at the end of a
term. I believe that both formative and summative assessment are extremely important for
teachers to understand and use in their teaching.

Summative assessment is typically used to assess student learning at the end of a topic or
term (Kibble, 2017). Kibble goes on to say that with summative assessment, the stakes are
high, particularly for the students who are being evaluated, but also because the data may
be used to improve teaching curriculum or assess the performance of teachers. On the
other end, formative assessment is primarily designed to enhance learning by offering
constructive criticism than tests that measure learning. The selection and use of both
summative and formative assessments must be carried out with great care because they
have important effects on students learning.

Although there are many differences between summative and formative assessment, they
should both complement each other. Formative assessment should be used during the
learning process to help student understand the material initially and summative
assessment should be used at the end of a topic or term to evaluate how much students
have learned. It is important for us as teachers to understand the importance of both
summative and formative assessment and use the results to improve our teaching
performance (Dixson & Worrell, 2016).

An example of a summative assessment I carried out in one of my constructions classes was

an end of topic test. This gave me the opportunity to evaluate how each student was
performing. It also showed me how successful my teaching methods were and how well I
got the topic across to students. I also feel that reviewing these tests will also help me in my
future teaching as I could see where students struggled or what they found difficult. I now
know what elements of these topics I need to pay particular attention to when teaching
them in the future. An example of formative assessment I used with my placement classes
was exit cards. On these exit cards I asked students directly what they learned in the lesson
and what they were still unsure off. This allowed me to run over some areas they were
unsure of to further enhance their learning.

In conclusion, I believe that formative assessment should be used in almost every class,
giving students constant feedback and assessing their work regularly is the best way for
students to improve and gain a better understand of a topic, particularly in areas where they
had difficulty. On reflection I also feel that summative assessment is important for both
students and teachers to ensure that students have an understand of the material covered.

References
Dixson , D. D., & Worrell, F. C. (2016). Formative and Summative Assessment in the
Classroom. Theory into Practice, 153-159.
Houston, D., & Thompson, J. N. (2017). Blending Formative and Summative Assessment in a
Capstone Subject: ‘It’s not your tools, it’s how you use them’. Journal of University
Teaching & Learning Practice, 14(3).
Kibble, J. D. (2017). Best practices in summative assessment. Advances in Physiology
Education, 41(1), 110-119.