1.

Diagnostic Assessment

2. Formative Assessment

3. Summative Assessment
Diagnostic assessment evaluates:
• what level of skills and knowledge the student
has already achieved;
• what skills and knowledge the students can
bring with them into the course;
• Any gaps or weaknesses that are apparent in
the student’s knowledge compared to others
of a similar age and ability;
• any potential factors that may have an impact
on how the students learn, and
• any additional requirements that students
may have in terms of differentiating learning
and meeting learning needs.
Diagnostic assessment takes many forms, like:
• interviewing the student;
• discussion with parents/ carers/ other
educational professionals who have close
links to the students;
• summative assessment of any previous
work or test results;
• subject-specific skills test or concept
tests, and
• close monitoring and tracking of pupil
progression.
 It is usually administered during the
instructional process to provide
feedback to students and teachers on
how well the former are learning the
lesson being taught.
 It uses pretests, homework, seatwork,
and classroom questions. Results of
formative assessment are neither
recorded nor graded but are used for
modifying or adjusting instruction.
Characteristics of formative assessment:
• Formative assessment informs the learning.
• Happens continuously in a classroom environment.
• Involves both teacher and learner in a process of continuous
review and consideration regarding levels of progress.
• Provides constructive and encouraging feedback, allowing
individuals to take responsibility for their own learning.
• Allows lesson plans to be assessed and adjusted as necessary,
making teachers instantly aware of any potential problems or
areas of difficulty.
• Allows a teacher to plan lessons in line with their pupils’ abilities.
• Is an exceptional asset to maintain effective and high quality
teaching standards.
• Can be oral or written feedback.
• May take the form of positive assessment.
Formative assessment is used by:
• Checking to see if the whole class is sure about what
has been asked of them.
• Engaging students through direct or ‘hands-up’
questioning.
• Walking around the classroom to monitor students’
progress.
• Guiding a student or whole class through a task
through modeling in her teaching.
• Conscientious and up-to-date marking if work by pupils.
• Openly praising good work done in class.
• Reprimanding for poor behavior in the playground.
• Taking time to ask how a student is feeling – showing
an interest in the student as a person not just as a
learner.
Some negative points of formative assessment:
• Danger of being too impulsive or improvised, and may not
always provide an accurate degree of reliable objectivity.
• Can be damaging to pupils’ self esteem if not used
appropriately or sensitively.
• Can be difficult to set and maintain rigid assessment
standards if there is little or no ‘paper work’ to back it up.
• Can lose meaning and impetus if used too often or
incorrectly.
• Can be imposing if the teacher guides the class too much
often, or if the class relies on the teacher too much – ‘spoon
feeding’.
• It can sometimes appear as if the teacher is favoring some
students over others, especially if they commend or
reprimand particular students more than others.
 This type of assessment is undertaken to
determine student achievement for grading
purposes.
 It is frequently based on cognitive knowledge,
as expressed through test scores and written
outputs.
 Results of summative assessment can be
utilized not only for judging student
achievement but also the effectiveness of the
teacher and the curriculum.
 Characteristics of Summative Assessment
• Summative assessment sums up the learning;
• Carried out by both subject teacher and a board of external
examiners;
• Carried out at the end of the unit, semester, school year, or
when the pupil is about to leave the school;
• Makes judgments regarding the pupil’s progress and
performance in relation to national standards;
• Provides an overview of the pupil’s attainment at the end of
crucial stages in their education;
• Takes the form of a monitored test or exam and is more
commonly written than oral; and
• It can be used to monitor the performance of a whole school
or group, not just an individual.
 Drawbacks of summative assessment
• Attainment levels are rigid and not usually open to reviews; the grade
achieved is irrefutable.
• Exams can only assess the pupil’s performance on that day, regardless of
performance levels outside of the exam situations.
• Poor performance in an exam can make student’s excellent performance
over the year seem pointless, lowering their opinion of the education
system.
• Ranking and scaling pupils can be damaging to their self-esteem.
• National exams carry great stress and pressure that can be overwhelming
for many students, consequently affecting their performance.
• Many students pin their future plans on gaining good grades in exams,
poor results can mean their goals are irreparably shattered.
• School – based summative assessment is time – consuming and means a
lot of work for the teacher to ensure it is completed to a high standard.
• Inexperienced teachers may find marking papers and tests difficult and
may be too harsh or generous when awarding grades.
Two distinct assessment methods:

• Normative Assessment

• Criterion Assessment
 Normative Assessment
• Concerned with national and local targets and
Local Education Authority guidelines
• Assesses the progress of a student in relation to
others of the same peer group, age or ability
• May involve ranking or scaling a pupil to help
with streaming classes
• May look at cross-school achievements to
compare achievement in particular groups,
subjects and years with local and national levels
of attainment
 Criterion Assessment
• Concerned with national examination and other
assessment bodies
• Used in the assessment of vocational and
academic qualifications
• Determines if a student can carry out a specific
task or activity within a particular situation or
context
• Results are given on a pass/fail, competent/not
competent basis
• Results are conclusive and usually open to
review.
 Uses of Assessment in Classroom
Instruction
1. Placement assessment determines student
performance at the beginning of instruction
2. Formative assessment monitors learning
progress during instruction.
3. Diagnostic assessment diagnoses learning
progress during instruction.
4. Summative assessment determines student
achievement at the end of instruction.