Balanced Assessment: From Formative to Summative

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It takes formative assessment to accomplish this. Formative Assessment is part of the instructional process. When incorporated into classroom practice, it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made.

These adjustments help to ensure students achieve, targeted standards-based learning goals within a set time frame. Although formative assessment strategies appear in a variety of formats, there are some distinct ways to distinguish them from summative assessments.

One distinction is to think of formative assessment as "practice. We must allow for practice. Formative assessment helps teachers determine next steps during the learning process as the instruction approaches the summative assessment of student learning. A good analogy for this is the road test that is required to receive a driver's license. What if, before getting your driver's license, you received a grade every time you sat behind the wheel to practice driving? What if your final grade for the driving test was the average of all of the grades you received while practicing?

Because of the initial low grades you received during the process of learning to drive, your final grade would not accurately reflect your ability to drive a car. In the beginning of learning to drive, how confident or motivated to learn would you feel? Would any of the grades you received provide you with guidance on what you needed to do next to improve your driving skills?

Formative and Summative Assessments in the Classroom

Your final driving test, or summative assessment, would be the accountability measure that establishes whether or not you have the driving skills necessary for a driver's license—not a reflection of all the driving practice that leads to it. The same holds true for classroom instruction, learning, and assessment. Another distinction that underpins formative assessment is student involvement. If students are not involved in the assessment process, formative assessment is not practiced or implemented to its full effectiveness.

Assessment for Learning - A Strategic Process

Students need to be involved both as assessors of their own learning and as resources to other students. There are numerous strategies teachers can implement to engage students. In fact, research shows that the involvement in and ownership of their work increases students' motivation to learn.

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This does not mean the absence of teacher involvement. To the contrary, teachers are critical in identifying learning goals, setting clear criteria for success, and designing assessment tasks that provide evidence of student learning. One of the key components of engaging students in the assessment of their own learning is providing them with descriptive feedback as they learn. In fact, research shows descriptive feedback to be the most significant instructional strategy to move students forward in their learning.

Descriptive feedback provides students with an understanding of what they are doing well, links to classroom learning, and gives specific input on how to reach the next step in the learning progression.

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In other words, descriptive feedback is not a grade, a sticker, or "good job! There are many classroom instructional strategies that are part of the repertoire of good teaching. When teachers use sound instructional practice for the purpose of gathering information on student learning, they are applying this information in a formative way.

In this sense, formative assessment is pedagogy and clearly cannot be separated from instruction.


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It is what good teachers do. The distinction lies in what teachers actually do with the information they gather. How is it being used to inform instruction? How is it being shared with and engaging students? Criteria and goal setting with students engages them in instruction and the learning process by creating clear expectations.

Balanced Assessment: From Formative to Summative

Establishing and defining quality work together, asking students to participate in establishing norm behaviors for classroom culture, and determining what should be included in criteria for success are all examples of this strategy. Using student work, classroom tests, or exemplars of what is expected helps students understand where they are, where they need to be, and an effective process for getting there. Observations go beyond walking around the room to see if students are on task or need clarification.


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    7. Observations assist teachers in gathering evidence of student learning to inform instructional planning. This evidence can be recorded and used as feedback for students about their learning or as anecdotal data shared with them during conferences. Asking better questions allows an opportunity for deeper thinking and provides teachers with significant insight into the degree and depth of understanding. Questions of this nature engage students in classroom dialogue that both uncovers and expands learning.

    Helping students ask better questions is another aspect of this formative assessment strategy. Self and peer assessment helps to create a learning community within a classroom.

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    Students who can reflect while engaged in metacognitive thinking are involved in their learning. When students have been involved in criteria and goal setting, self-evaluation is a logical step in the learning process. The research, rationale, strategies, and examples provided in this book will help teachers develop their own repertoire of formative and summative assessments to monitor, grade, and make inferences about a student s ability to meet standards and curriculum goals.

    Exercises at the end of Learn how to integrate formative and summative assessments seamlessly into instruction. Exercises at the end of each chapter provide opportunities to reflect and plan action steps. Paperback , pages.

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    To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Balanced Assessment , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Dec 24, Jessica Barkl rated it liked it. Well, this is a good workbook for any teacher having to learn the teacher-"ees" of Common Core State Standards and all of the paperwork that system requires. I suppose I should give it some positive feedback for the fact that it does give many templates for rubrics, formative assessments, summative assessments, performance assessments, and checklists.

    I could get up on my soapbox and decry the fact that I can't stand all of this "organization" for the brain; that I have seen its effects on the col Well, this is a good workbook for any teacher having to learn the teacher-"ees" of Common Core State Standards and all of the paperwork that system requires. I could get up on my soapbox and decry the fact that I can't stand all of this "organization" for the brain; that I have seen its effects on the college student who asks for a "rubric" before they try to "think for themselves" and use "critical thinking," but it would be of no use.

    Sleeter, attempted to help with my rebellion, but the book, itself, was so boring, there would be no way to persuade anyone else to take this challenge: Oh well, until then, if you need templates and an "idiot's guide to filling out CCSS paperwork," then this is your book. Paula rated it really liked it Nov 13, Ceit rated it it was amazing May 29, Bugladynora rated it it was amazing Oct 15, Lisa Morley rated it it was amazing Aug 10, Lori rated it it was ok Jun 18, Meaghan Scott rated it really liked it Apr 27, Carl rated it did not like it Aug 20, Meg Morley rated it did not like it Jul 25, George Holbrook rated it it was amazing Feb 06, Joanne Gibbs rated it really liked it Jul 21, Jeannine rated it liked it May 08, Tammy rated it really liked it Apr 28, Christia marked it as to-read Jun 09, Heather marked it as to-read Jul 08, Kate De Nyse is currently reading it Jul 06,