Formative Assessment

Formative Assessments: For Students or Teachers

Anonymous
Department of Education, The University of the People
EDUC 5440: Written Assignment
Dr. Michael Jarret
September 12, 2021

1
Formative Assessment

Introduction

Formative assessment involves formal and informal assessments used through the lesson to

monitor students’ progress and understanding for quality feedback. This form of assessment help

teachers to predict students’ performance for summative assessments. Examples of formative

assessments include observation, student-self-assessment, written response, short essay, etc.

(Erie, 2017). 

The nature of formative assessment 

Lampriaanu and Athanasau (2009), argued that it is not the assessment that is termed as either

formative or assessment but the aim for conducting the assessment would determine the type of

assessment. In other words, if the focus of the assessment is to determine what students know

during the process of learning to modify the learning to meet their diverse needs, then it can be

referred to as formative assessment. This statement implies that the process for formative

assessment can be very tricky (Laura, 2009). If care is not taken formative assessment may end

up being more formative to teachers than students (common Sense education, 2016). For

example, a teacher conducts an exit interview and realizes that a third of the class missed the

concept, hence the teacher prepares to teach the entire class again. In this regard, the teacher

didn’t help the class because the majority of the students understood the concept. The teacher

should rather adopt a differentiation technique to meet the varying needs of the students.

Similarly, a teacher assesses students with oversimplified tasks and concludes that they

understood the concept (Miller, 2015). These two examples depict that the formative assessment

is for the teacher but not for the students. 

If formative assessment is conducted effectively, it should be able to identify the unique

strengths and weaknesses of students for improvement (University of Greenwich, n.d.). How can

2
Formative Assessment

this be achieved? In other words, how can formative assessment be an assessment for students

but not for teachers? For example, after the formative assessment, teachers can adopt the

principles (Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, n.d.) below to ensure that the

assessment was for the students. 

First, students should understand the significance of the assessment. A simple poll could be used

to solicit views from students on the difficulty level of the assessment and what can be done to

improve their understanding. Also, the criteria for the assessment should be clearly explained. 

Secondly, students’ self-reflection should be encouraged. For example, the criteria could be sued

by students to assess their work or for peer assessment. Additionally, teachers should give

prompt and quality feedback to students. For example, instead of writing just excellent work

done, teachers should explain to students why their work was excellent or below average. Again,

students should be actively involved in the formative assessment. They can be invited to take

part in the assessment criteria or give a comment on the feedback from their teachers. Moreover,

for life-long learning, a teacher should ensure that formative assessments have real-world

implications. 

Conclusion

Formative assessment is an ongoing process undertaking during the period of teaching to help

both teachers and students. This process can be effective inf teachers explain the rationale for the

formative assessments and involve students throughout the process. 

3
Formative Assessment

References

Common Sense Education. (2016, July 12). 3 tips for great formative assessment. Retrieved

September 12, 2021, from https://youtu.be/JJ5yRhyIeFI

Erie, PA., Public Schools. (2017). Diagnostic

assessment. ERIESD. https://www.eriesd.org/cms/lib/PA01001942/Centricity/

Domain/1917/Types%20of%20Assessments%20information%20sheets.pdf

Lamprianu, I., & Athanasau, J. (2009). A teacher’s guide to classroom assessment. Sense

Publishers. Available https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1405926/mod_book/

chapter/298119/TeachGuideEduAssessment.pdf

Laura, T. (2019). Formative Assessment: 7 Smart, Fast Ways to do Formative Assessment.

Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-smart-fast-ways-

do-formative-assessment

Miller, A. (2015). Formative Assessment is Transformational. Retrieved September 12, 2021

from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/formative-assessment-is-transformational-andrew-

miller

University of Greenwich (n.d.). Learning and Teaching: Formative Vs. Summative. Retrieved

September 12, 2021, from

https://www.gre.ac.uk/learning-teaching/assessment/assessment/design/formative-vs-

summative

4
Formative Assessment

Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning (n.d.). Formative and Summative Assessments.

Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/Formative-

Summative-Assessments