1. Formative and Summative Assessment
Julie Sanchez, Ph.D
December 1, 2016

2. What is classroom assessment?
All processes involved in making decisions about students’ learning progress
Reasons for assessment
Promote learning
Increase motivation
Accountability

3. THE BIG VISION TO PONDER
What is the purpose of the assessment?
Think clearly about what the student will learn by completing their work. Then we design assignments and select content that will promote that learning.
Think clearly about what you will learn by having students completing their work.

4. Student & Teacher Gains
What does it show you about the student’s thinking? What does it NOT show you?
What does it show you about the student’s metacognitive skills?
Where would you place more emphasis when teaching this concept?
Are there any misconceptions apparent that you need to address?
Are there interesting relationships to explore further?
What ideas does it provide you for your teaching of this subject in the future?

5. A classification of classroom assessments
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Formal assessment
Informal assessment
Teacher made assessments
Commercially made assessments
Formal assessment
Informal assessment
Teacher made assessments
Commercially made assessments

6. When do we use formative vs. summative?
Directly following concept learning/skills based learning
To practice new knowledge/elaborate on new knowledge
When we jump Bloom’s levels
Directly following the end of a unit, chapter or series of lessons
When students need to evidence learning on sequential lessons that have continual building of knowledge
Mid-semester/End of semester

7. Formative Assessment Activity
HOMEWORK/IN-CLASS WORK
What is my homework or low stakes class work philosophy?
a. How does this work fit into my class? How is it valued? b. Why do I assign?
2. What are my policies?
a. Late?
b. Incomplete or below standard work?
3. How is this work graded?
a. How do my students know how they did?

8. Traditional Assessments

9. Selected-Response Assessments
Multiple choice items
Matching items
True-False items

10. Constructed response assessments
Short answer/open-ended
Essay
Completion items
Problem solving items

11. How effective are selected response assessments?
ADVANTAGES
Efficient
Quick to score
Good measure of discrete knowledge
Assess many topics in a short time
DISADVANTAGES
Students may guess
Cannot measure creative or elaborative skills

12. How effective are constructed response assessments?
ADVANTAGES
Easier to construct
Measures knowledge, organization, and communication skills
Assesses Bloom’s higher levels
DISADVANTAGES
Time consuming to grade
Cover less material
More likely to be unreliable
Rubrics may help improve reliability

13. Alternative assessments
Main goal is to “gather evidence about how students are approaching, processing, and completing real-life tasks in a particular domain”
Authentic assessments
Portfolios
Performances
Exhibitions
Journals

14. Summative assessment activity:
Assignment analysis
Rubric analysis

15. Understanding the
Assessment Cycle

16. Administering assessments
Create a comfortable and organized environment.
Keep the assessment environment as similar as possible to the learning environment.
Monitor your students as they are being assessed.
Give precise directions before and during your assessments (dual-modality).
Promote metacognition.

17. Evaluating and Revising
LANGUAGE: Ambiguous wording? Clear directions? Language align with instruction?
INSTRUCTION: Strong vs.? Insufficient?
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY (Blooms taxonomy)? Does level of curriculum match the level of assessment?
AMOUNT of formative assessment?
Used for INTENDED PURPOSE(S)/align with objectives? Learning behaviors?