Assessment and Feedback Flashcards
What is Formative Assessment?
Formative is smaller, intermediary assessments which focus on assessment for learning, with this type of assessment normally taking place much more continually.
What are the main purposes of Formative Assessment?
Formative assessment is generally used to assess students periodically during the learning process and is used to structure future plans of action to help achieve better results and productivity from students.
How does Formative Assessment benefit students
Formative assessment helps to de-emphasise the importance of results and focus more towards areas of improvement.
This helps to relax and relieve stress for students, this because they know the assessment is being used to benefit their future learning, and not judge them on what they know and don’t know.
What is Summative Assessment
Summative Assessment is far more similar to traditional exams.
What is the purpose of using Summative Assessment?
Summative assessment is used to assess the overall body of work that students have produced, and their ability to recall and demonstrate comprehensive understanding of a skill or phenomenon.
Does Summative Assessment have drawbacks?
There is evidence to suggest that placing full emphasis on one singular test not only increases strength levels of pupils but can also lead to negative results on productivity and outcomes.
It can also lead teachers to ‘teach to the test’, meaning that students are far less likely to achieve a well rounded and comprehensive understanding of what they are being ‘taught’.
What is Backward assessment, and what is forward assessment?
Backward assessment is summative
Forward assessment is formative
Is one assessment approach better than the other?
Typically, teachers have found it far more beneficial to find a balance in both approaches, with the mix providing the basis for which all areas of assessment can be tested.
Additionally, it can be important to use both methods to satisfy external variables as well, Universities, parents etc.
What is Assessment for Learning?
Assessment for learning focuses on 3 main principles
1) gathering information about your learners
2) Analysing/interpreting the information
3) Using that information to inform your teaching
What are 3 key principles of Assessment for learning
1 - Evidence of present condition
2 - The desired goal
3 - Understanding of a way to close the gap
What are five practical techniques to use when employing assessment for learning?
1) Sharing learning intentions and success criteria with students
2) engaging in quality dialogue and discussion
3) giving immediate high quality verbal feedback
4) marking less but achieving more
5) effective use of self and peer assessment
What can combining quality interaction with assessment lead to?
Quality interaction evolves assessment to become a far more two way form of interaction and help to benefit both the student and the teacher.
What is important for teachers to overcome following assessment?
It is important for teachers to overcome the addiction to the right answer and focus on how ‘wrong’ answers can be moulded to work towards right answers
What can an ‘addiction to right answers’ lead to?
If the teacher is fully focussed on achieving right answers pupils will very rarely know how they can improve, only occasionally learning what a improved result will look like. This also leads teachers to learn very little about students’ full understanding.
