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Main differences between formative and summative assessments

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I created this juggling assessment checklist for grade 3 PEW.

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This book provides an answer in a practical, proven, and unique Assessment Planning Framework that moves away from solely multiple-choice tests toward a wide range of approaches to classroom assessment activities, including performance-based assessments. This user-friendly guide will help pre- and inservice teachers to match assessments to purpose, goals, and content; select appropriate tasks; communicate productive feedback to students and parents; and use assessment results to inform instruction.

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Jay McTighe (Author), Steve Ferrara (Author), Susan Brookhart (Foreword) & 0 more

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Assessing Student Learning by Design: Principles and Practices for Teachers and School Leaders

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Assessing Student Learning by Design: Principles and Practices for Teachers and School Leaders: McTighe, Jay, Ferrara, Steve, Brookhart, Susan: 9780807765401: Books - Amazon.ca

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Exit tickets are a powerful tool to use in the classroom.

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How to Completely Transform Your Teaching with Exit Tickets

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Whether they’re completed on a piece of paper, a tablet, or a whiteboard, exit tickets are a powerful tool to use in your classroom. Exit tickets are formative assessments that provide a quick snapshot about your students’ learning and understanding of a topic faster than any other tool in the class…

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An assessment aims to measure what students have learned or will be learning in the future.

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Assessing a student's learning is an integral part of teaching. An assessment aims to measure what your students have learned or will be learning in the future.

Sometimes the trickiest part with planning an assessment is working out where to begin. If you're new to a year level looking at past assessments from previous teachers can be very helpful; however, ACARA or your State/Territories syllabus (if you are a fellow Aussie teacher), is another excellent starting point. Not only do they identify expected teaching points and achievement levels for each grade, but they also provide teachers with assessment examples.

Below we have put together 10 tips and ideas to help you when planning an authentic assessment for your students:
Work Backwards
Work backwards when planning a summative assessment. Identify what you want the students to learn and how you plan for them to show their learning. Once this is established, you can start creating lessons and formative assessments that will assist learning for the final assessment task. During the process, this allows you to target key learning objectives and skills you wish to assess along the way, such as researching, recording, creating, analysing and writing. This is where checklists and anecdotal notes come in handy.
Post-it Note Reflections
Provide students with post-its for them to record a quick reflection of their learning. It could be answering a question, recording what they've learned in the lesson or setting a goal for future learning. This is a simple way to read students responses and gauge your next teaching steps quickly.
Make Assessments Fun
Make an assessment fun. You could have students create a board game, quiz, skit or movie to show their learning.
Exit Tickets
Exit tickets are one of our primary forms of quick assessment, particularly in Maths. It is a fast and efficient way to establish students learning and perfect around report writing time. Keep reading to get a free copy of a generic exit ticket you can use with your students.
Marking Rubrics
Using marking rubrics are essential in ascertaining different expectations for grading. When creating a rubric begin at the C grade (expected achievement level for a grade) and then add expectations for working above and below that level. Additionally, providing students with the rubric before the assessment is helpful since it shows them what you are looking for and what they can do to achieve the best result.
Keep it Simple
Remember, when assessing your class, it doesn't have to be on all outcomes at the one time. Narrowing your objective down to one or two at a time is guaranteed to make it easier for you. Furthermore, you don't need students to give you ten examples of the same concept/skill. Instead, provide two or three examples for students to complete and perhaps another at a more advanced level.
Try Open-ended Tasks
Open-ended tasks are a great way to allow students to show their understanding according to where they are up to in their learning. They allow all students to attempt the assessment and achieve some success.
Recording Data
Recording data is as necessary as the assessment itself! We recommend

you set up a way to record ALL your data from the beginning of the year. You can do this on or digitally, depending on how you like to work. Being diligent with this will help you and your students in the long run. We love recording our data in an Assessment book for the entire year.
Use to inform Teachers, Students and Parents
Assessments are not only for keeping teachers informed but also a tool for teachers to keep parents informed on their child's learning. Decide how you plan to communicate with parents and keep them in mind when planning and creating assessments.
Go Digital
Not all assessment needs to be pen and paper. There are many apps out there now (such as seesaw) that assist teachers in collating and sharing student learning. Sometimes taking a photo or short video of a child in action while working on a hands-on task will provide all the information you need (this is particularly handy in the younger grades).

To assist with keeping track of your student's understanding of concepts taught, we have included a free download of some general exit tickets which can be used with any subject. Get your copy here (or by clicking on the image below).

If you are new to teaching and are keen to read more tips about assessment, then we have even more information about assessment in our First Year Survival Guide.

Find below additional exit tickets you may wish to use in your class.
What to read next?
Creative Ways to use Exit Tickets in the Classroom

Tips for First Year Teachers

12 Top Tips for Report Writing Success

Preparing your Students for Naplan

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10 Considerations When Planning An Authentic Assessment - Rainbow Sky Creations

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Assessing a student's learning is an integral part of teaching. An assessment aims to measure what your students have learned or will be learning in the future.

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Rubric created by my mentor teacher for the Create your own Island assignment in grade 2 science.

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Create Your Own Island student checklist 

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Create Your Own Island student checklist 

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By providing students with a checklist will help students know what to include in their work, as well as what they will be assessed on.

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This assessment freebie is perfect to use during the first week of kindergarten, summer school or end of the year in pre-k. These forms make it quick and easy to test students on letter names, both capital and lowercase, letter sounds, identifying numbers, writing numbers 1-10, rhyming, shapes and more! This information is incredibly helpful to know so you can place students in small groups right at their instructional level.
CLICK HERE to see how I use this kit on the blog with photos and videos.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Wow! After downloading this purchase, I'm LOOKING FORWARD
to my next round of report card assessments."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Extremely helpful during those stressful report card times. Easy to use. Easy for Parents to understand. Thank you for your outstanding work!!!!"
My assessment kits make it so easy to:

assess students on the exact standards we are working on at each point in the school year

document data for each student

fill out report cards quickly and efficiently

share the standards and student information with parents

prepare for parent-teacher conferences

place students in the correct small groups based on their instructional level

Purchase my complete report cards and assessment kits:

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FREE Back to School Kindergarten Assessment - Beginning of the Year Test Pre-K

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This assessment freebie is perfect to use during the first week of kindergarten, summer school or end of the year in pre-k. These forms make it quick and easy to test students on letter names, both capital and lowercase, letter sounds, identifying numbers, writing numbers 1-10, rhyming, shapes and ...

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Read on for ideas, plus links to some printable resources.

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18 Formative Assessment Examples Elementary Students Love as Much as Teachers Do

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Get fun formative assessment examples and ideas that are perfect for elementary school teachers. Each has been teacher-tested and approved.

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5 quick ways to check for understanding during or after your lesson.

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Hey everyone! It's Deanna here from A Primary Owl! Today, I am talking formative assessments....this has been a huge push in my school this year. We have been focusing on Formative Instructional Practices like posting clear learning targets for students, making sure students know their learning targets and regular formative assessments to drive your instruction.

So, I want to share with you 5 quick ways you can check for understanding during or after your lesson. You probably already use these strategies, but do you view at them as formative assessments??

Exit tickets are an excellent way to check for understanding. But you don't just have to wait until the students are "exiting".....you can have students write what they remember from the lesson the previous day. During the lesson, stop and have students jot down their ideas. I love using index cards for this! I have tons of them and they are super cheap. It takes just few minutes to pass them out and it is easy for students to write on the lines.

Exit ticket charts or "What Stuck With You Today?" charts are great for this too. I love using my "Think and Respond" Chart. This is just another easy way to check in with students:

I love white boards. We use them constantly in my room during our lessons. I recently felt like I won the lottery when I was in my local Dollar Tree store....they had these dry erase boards with handles only $1.00 each!!! I literally felt like doing a happy dance right there in the aisle! We have used them tons during math and also when we are reviewing multiple choice items for quizzes. I have them write their answers on their white boards and show me. I can quickly tell who didn't get the correct answer and who needs to look around for help before answering. I can pull those friends into a small group later for reteaching.

Seems simple but we do a quick check on our fingers all the time. I say, "Give me a thumbs up if you understand, thumbs down if you are still having trouble, thumbs in the middle if you still need more time." Another way I use this is when we watch a BrainPop video, we do the little quizzes together and I have my students show one finger for answer A, two for answer B, etc. Easy and no prep or papers to print!

Another scale that we use besides our fingers is a rating scale. While some students might find it hard to show their fingers because they might embarrassed to admit they don't understand a concept. Using a personal rating scale is less public. I made these, laminated them and my students keep them in their pencil boxes. Students can privately show me how they are doing. You can get your free template by clicking the picture:

Finally, my favorite way to check student's learning is using technology. Here we are playing Quizlet Live, our new favorite obsession!

These are just a few of my favorite tech tools for keeping students engaged and evaluating their learning during the unit we are working on.

Thank for stopping by today!

Pin for later:

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Hey everyone! It's Deanna here from A Primary Owl! Today, I am talking formative assessments....this has been a huge push in my school this year. We have been focusing on Formative Instructional Practices like posting clear learning targets for students, making sure students know their learning targets and regular formative assessments to drive your instruction.

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Using the Student Parking Lot template as a formative assessment monitors student learning and provides ongoing feedback.

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Using the Student Parking Lot template as a formative assessment monitors my fourth graders learning and provides me with ongoing feedback. You can check out all about it here and snag the template.

What Are Formative Assessments?

Formative assessments are ongoing monitoring tools that provide the teacher with feedback on a lesson. It is a quick way for teachers to check how well the class is doing during a lesson.

Formative assessments are ongoing and can be given any time during a lesson. It is best to use them while the kids are learning new content.

Examples of Formative Assessments

Formative assessments are informal ways for teachers to check how well students are understanding the content.

It is an informal approach to assess students and takes off the pressure, unlike state assessments. Some examples of formative are:

Quick Writes

Writing things down in a sticky note

One-Sentence Summary

Giving students one problem to solve in an index card

Exit Tickets

Classroom polls

Using Formative Assessments in the Classroom

I use formative assessments in my class with the goal to provide quick feedback to my kids. It is my belief that early intervention is the best tool to use in the classroom and it saves me from hours of a small group intervention at the end of a unit.

Formative assessments provide me with tons of information from my students and allow me to correct as the kids are learning new content.

I don't have to wait until a test to go back and figure out where things went wrong for my students. That is working harder and not smarter!

I use formative assessments during and after a lesson. It's a quick way to close a lesson with feedback from kids. And this is key when my goal is for my class to reach mastery to move them along.

What Is the Student Parking Lot?

One of my favorite formative assessments to use is called student parking lot. In a nutshell, I ask students a question and they write their response on a sticky note.

The kids then place their sticky notes on a designated spot which is called the parking lot. Each square on the sheet has a number that is designated to a student.

Introducing Student Parking Lot

Before using Student Parking Lot, we practice the routine by going through the motions on the first day of school.

Ideally, this would be done at the start of the year, but you can introduce student parking lot anytime in the year. I make sure that I introduce the routine prior to using it in a lesson.

The goal is to focus to be on the actual lesson and not figuring out how to complete a formative assessment.

I start by introducing the response bag. The response bag holds the materials my kids need to complete many formative assessments.

Each student has a response bag that contains sticky notes. You can read this post to get a glimpse of the response bag in my classroom.

The Routine for Student Parking Lot

Next, I model how to fill out the sticky note. Each sticky note must have a name, number, and date.

I do this for two reasons. First, just in case the sticky note falls and then I know who it belongs to. Second, I teach three classes during the day and I won't get students mixed up.

At this point, I show the kids the space they have for their response and ask them to draw an emoji that represents how they feel about being in fourth grade.

The goal at the beginning is to show them the routine and procedure I want them to follow. Starting out with a simple question that everyone can answer walks them through the routine.

Finally, I point out to the student parking lot template where they place their sticky on their assigned number.

Using Student Parking Lot with Multiple Classes

I assigned each student a number in alphabetical order. The kids remain with that number all year long. I call them by rows to place their sticky notes on their square. One by one they line up and place their sticky notes.

My student parking lot is placed in different places around the room and are color-coded by class. I see three classes during the day.

An ideal spot is a place where students can easily reach the Student Parking Lot. It should be at the kid's eye level. In previous years, I have them near the board.

First Week of School Using Student Parking Lot

This past week my fourth graders just finished completing their first formative assessment linked to a lesson after teaching them how to use the student parking lot.

The First Few Days of School

I begin the year by teaching them how to write lowercase cursive letters and use this as a starting point to reinforce the student parking lot routine and procedure.

The curriculum I use starts with cursive because it's easy and my kids find success with it. Again, my focus is for the class to complete the routine under two minutes.

I give them one minute to write their response and another minute for all the sticky notes to be placed on the student parking lot template.

What Do I Do with All the Sticky Notes?

My kids and I love using the student parking lot as a formative assessment in the classroom because it monitors my fourth graders learning and provides me with ongoing feedback.

It's a quick check, and it immediately lets me know who needs help or a challenge. I use sticky notes to form strategy groups during a lesson. This allows me to see students in a group and give them feedback.

Since I use sticky notes a lot in the classroom, I accumulate many of them every day. As we move on from writing to science, the kids place sticky notes on top of each other.

At the end of the day, I assigned one student the job to place the sticky notes in my teacher binder where I have the same Student Parking Lot template. Basically, I collect a unit worth of sticky notes and then throw them out at the beginning of another unit.

I have also used sticky notes during parent conferences to show parents their child's progress in class. They have been useful during data chats with my school administration team as well.

Grab the Template!

Formative assessments are a great tool to use in the classroom. They provide teachers with quick feedback on lessons and the status of the class.

My favorite formative assessment as you can guess is using sticky notes and student parking lot. I use it repeatably in many of the lessons I teach.
If you would love to start implementing this in your own classroom, simply grab this free template. And then come back and tell me all about it!

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STUDENT PARKING LOT FOR THE CLASSROOM - Longwing Learning

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Using the Student Parking Lot template as a formative assessment monitors my fourth graders learning and provides me with ongoing feedback. You can check out all about it here and snag the template. Formative assessments are ongoing monitoring tools that provide the teacher with feedback on a lesson.

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Quick and easy formative assessment ideas.

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Sometimes it feels crazy overwhelming to keep assessing students and know exactly what they do/don't understand. That's where these quick and easy formative assessment ideas comes in!

My school district sent us a monthly newsletter from the GATE department. This was a particularly helpful chart, so I kept it. But the image was too small, so I've remade it into an easier to read version (see below).

Click here to download the above new version (PDF): Formative Assessments

In case you're still thirsty for more formative assessment ideas, check out these ideas:
Formative Assessment Ideas on eHow.com
Examples of Formative Assessment from West Virginia Department of Education
A Sampling of Types of Formative Assessment on isbe.net
Formative Assessment Ideas from the Wake County Public School System
21 Ways to Investigate What Students Are Learning by STEMresources.com

This entry was posted in Assessment and tagged Children, Education, Elementary School, Kids, Teacher Resources, Teachers, Teaching by Squarehead Teachers. Bookmark the permalink.

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Quick & Easy Formative Assessments UPDATED

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Sometimes it feels crazy overwhelming to keep assessing students and know exactly what they do/don't understand. That's where these quick and easy formative assessment ideas comes in! My school district sent us a monthly newsletter from the GATE department. This was a particularly helpful chart, so I kept it.

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4 Corners is a strategy to gauge students knowledge and comfort with a topic before you begin teaching. But it also gets students up and moving for a movement break!

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4 Corners- A Kinesthetic Preassessment - Tales from Outside the Classroom

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4 corners is a strategy for preassessing your students' background knowledge on a topic as a way to engage them before the unit. It's quick and easy to implement!

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A creative collection of informal assessment ideas.

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We all need to use assessments in our classroom to determine how our students are doing with the content, but if you are like me, you get a little bored with the same old thing every time. I mean, just how many times can you do the ticket out the door? And if you are getting bored, you know your kiddos are, too! So, that's why I thought I'd put together this collection of informal assessment ideas for you (and me)!

To be a bit creative, they are in alphabetical order. Some you may have heard of, while others may be new to you. I am claiming none of these ideas to be mine! These are all ideas I have collected and compiled for you. The overall goal is to build your toolkit and to help you come up with some new ideas the next time you need an informal assessment. In the end, I have all these ideas in a PDF form for you to download and to reference later.

Informal Assessments: A to Z Ideas

So, let's get started! For some of these, there are pictures to make it easier for you to see. For others, there is just a description.
A - Anticipatory Guides
Before the start of a unit, you would provide students with a few statements related to the unit. Students check if they agree with the statement or not. This helps you get an idea of their prior knowledge. Then, after you have taught the unit, you can go back and reassess to see if their thinking has changed any.

In this informal assessment, students write down something from the lesson that they found confusing or difficult. Then, the teacher can either collect the responses and review with the students, or students can form groups and have students share their "bumps in the road" to seek clarification.
C - The Crumpled Question Toss
I love this one, but I have always enjoyed a good snowball fight! Each student writes a question about something that was discussed during the unit. Then, students will crumple up their paper and GENTLY toss it - you know, not attack blast toss - to another student. Then, students will open the crumpled paper and answer the question. If desired, you can then re-crumple and toss it again. Have the next student who opens it add any additional information. You can continue one more time and have students add anything, make changes, or even present the class with a new question or answer.
C (Again) - Chain Link
In this activity, you would present the class with a question and have them write a response on a strip of paper. Then, students begin passing around a stapler and add their link to a chain that begins forming. At the end you can either review the entire chain's answers with the class or after class is over. Just make sure you have the students' names on each link.

D - Dry Erase Back-to-Back Boards

Have students pair up and both have mini-whiteboards. They will stand back-to-back. The teacher will ask a question while they both respond on their whiteboards. After a few minutes, the students both turn around and show their answers. A discussion then occurs.

Students write a response to a question posed by a teacher on either a sticky note or a slip of paper provided by the teacher. This can be provided when students enter the classroom, related to something prior to the learning, or after students have learned the content, it can be given to them on the way out. Some teachers have done both. This has been used as a method to help teachers assess whether they need to review or reteach. There are many ways to assess using exit tickets. Check out my post on 24 Exit Ticket Ideas!
F - Four Corners
In this assessment, the teacher places terms, answers to questions, or concepts in each of the corners of the room. Then, students begin in a corner and discuss or complete work related to the corner's concepts and eventually move to the next corner until all four corners have been completed. An alternative is to place a multiple choice question on a doc cam and have students move to the labeled corner that they think is the answer. Watch for students who "follow the crowd."
G - Graphic Organizers
I imagine you are thinking right now, "Come on, Tammy, all teachers know about graphic organizers! Were you just desperate for the letter 'G?'" No. Well, I mean, I needed a 'G' to make this alphabet thing work, but I think there is some real value to graphic organizers, and I think there are waaaaaaaaaayyy more than just the overused ones. We all know about the Venn diagrams, the cause and effect charts, the KWL charts(have I mentioned I don't like them?), and the T-charts, but there are others out there that are really great. Like this one:

What I'm saying is, don't be afraid to swim upstream and find something better!
H - Human Graphs
Creating a human graph in your classroom is definitely engaging with your students, and it's not just for math. It's a great way to assess your students' understanding. Ask your students a question such as, "Which animal do you think is most likely endangered?" and place labels on the ground. Then, students will form lines behind the labels. They don't necessarily need to lay down. An alternative to the human graph is using sticky notes...because we are teachers, and we use them for everything...and kids LOVE them.
I - Idea Spinner
In this informal assessment, the teacher creates a spinner with about five quadrants that are labeled like the picture below. After a lesson, the teacher spins the spinner and asks students a question based on the location of where the spinner landed. Another idea is to have students partner up and have them ask their partners a question based on where it landed and then discuss!
J - Journal Entries
I think we have all done this a time or two in our classrooms, but its value cannot be underestimated. Anytime you can get your students to reflect, you are definitely creating learning. Journaling can be done in nearly all subjects and encourages the exploration of ideas.

For reviewing a topic, have students try out this methodology. Have them explain a key concept by giving the definition (in their own words), drawing a picture, giving an example, and explaining the big idea that goes along with the key concept. It's close to the Frayer Model if you are familiar with it.

I would have my students write a letter to their mom or dad, but not as an assessment. It was often an early finisher activity. However, it does make a perfect assessment for you. Have students express what they have learned in a short letter. An alternative is to explain using kid-friendly terms to a first grader what they learned.

Ticket out the door informal assessments is not bad. It's just sometimes they can get boring if you are always doing them. That's why it's nice when there is something different - when you can mix it up a little. In this alternative, Most Valuable Point, students list three new ideas they have learned, two connections they have made, one question they have, and a one-sentence summary related to the lesson they have learned. Since MVP is also a basketball term, why not create a cute little basketball slip, right?
N - Note Taking Experts
Have students take notes throughout the lesson. Then, at the end have them pair up and switch notes. They will then look at their partner's notes and add important notations, such as underlining, creating pictures, and other keywords to help their partner become an expert at the material.

Have students form two circles - inside and outside circles facing one another. Students should line up and face one another as partners. They will then quiz each other using questions they have created themselves ahead of time. Then, after a designated amount of time, have one of the circles (outside, for example) move to create a new pair and repeat the action.
On a Roll
Provide pairs or groups with a die and have them roll it. On the doc cam, provide them with a table that has a question that corresponds to the number rolled. For instance, if students rolled a 1, then they have to explain what a sedimentary rock is.
P - P-M-Is
These letters stand for Plus/Positives about the topic, Minuses/Negatives about the topic, Intriguing/interesting things about the topic, and Suggestions for further study on the topic. These could all be used as a ticket out the door activity.

Q - Quick Write/Quick Draw

In this activity students quickly write everything that comes to their head related to the concepts on one side and then draw on the other side. This example can be found in the book 25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom.
R - Rock, Paper, Scissors
In this activity, the teacher asks a question and then students discuss it with a group or a partner. After a few minutes, the teacher will call, "Rock, Paper, Scissors." The winner stands, and the teacher then chooses a few winners to answer the questions.

S - Synetics (Forced Analogies)

I have talked about synectics before, except I called them forced analogies. I wrote an entire post expressing my love for these critical thinking activities. They can also be used for assessment because they can help you discover what your students know.
T- Tear & Share
In this activity, you have a group of four in a team. Assign each student in the team a number, 1-4. The teacher provides students with a four square sheet with four questions on it. All four students respond to the questions on their sheet. After a few minutes, each student tears their sheet into the four pieces (so each question is now its own mini-sheet). One student collects all the ones, another collects all the twos, and so on. Then, with their stack of responses, each student reads the responses, looks for a common theme, and prepares a summary. Then, students provide an oral summary to the class.
Twitter Summaries
Another fun but a challenging activity that could be used as a ticket out the door is to have students summarize what they learned "Twitter-style," meaning using no more than 140 characters. There are many variations to this, such as the 20-word summary, and so on. This helps students learn that they have to get right down to the most important information.
U - Use Signaling
I imagine every teacher uses these to some degree in their classroom. "Give me a thumbs up if you totally understand and are ready to move on." I frequently used the thumbs up, thumbs down activity, but again, it's still nice to have some new ideas. I have also used the windshield signals, where students place their right arm on top of their left and move it up creating angles to indicate if things are clear to them. Below are a few more ideas.
V - Venn Diagram
Alright, so technically this falls under the letter "G" with graphic organizers. I struggled a bit coming up with a "V." I suppose I could have said "Video." Have students create a video. Either way, the Venn diagram is a higher-order thinking skill by comparing and contrasting - especially if it's a triple Venn!

I'm a huge fan of relays - yes, even in the classroom. They just have to be monitored and done carefully. The students love them. While there are many variations to the Whiteboard Relays (I'll save that for another post!), in this one students run to the board together and create symbols or words to represent their topic. At the end each group presents.

Provide students with checklists or other sheets to help students track their progress. They can mark them off with an X (see what I did there?) as they go. You can assess their independence along with how they are meeting their goals.
Y - Yes/No Cards
Provide students with an index card and have them label one side "Yes" and the other side "No." When you ask a review question, students show you the side to answer it. Again, there are many variations to these type of response cards.
Z - Zap Game
The Zap game is similar to the game Password. On the doc cam, place a vocabulary word. Have teams divided, some looking at the screen, some not. One student gives clues while the other guesses. As soon as someone gets the word, the team raises their hands. The other team will quietly say, "Zap."

That is it! I hope that there is something here that you can enjoy and use! As promised, I have all of this in a PDF format for you for FREE! Just click here.

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Informal Assessments A to Z: A list of Ideas

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We all need to use assessments in our classroom to determine how our students are doing with the content, but if you are like me, you get a little bored with the same old thing every time. I mean, just how many times can you do the ticket out the door?

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Pros and cons of summative and formative assessments.

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Summative Assessments vs Formative Assessments

Summative assessments versus formative assessments: Which are better?

That depends on what you're teaching, how you're teaching, and who you're teaching. Let's look at the pros and cons of summative and formative assessments.
Summative and Formative Assessments
Summative assessments, which have been ingrained into teaching models for years, evaluate how much a student has learned at the end of a block of teaching. Summative assessments can include papers, exams, and final projects. Each student's learning is compared against a standard or benchmark.

Formative assessments, which are gaining popularity in teaching, evaluate in "real time" how much a student has learned. Formative assessment can include strategic questioning (of one or all students), quizzes, tests that asks students to explain their thinking, and group projects.
Pros and Cons of Summative Assessments
Summative assessments can be helpful for students who are motivated by scores and grades and benefit from comparing themselves to other students. These types of assessments can also be helpful for teachers, because the collective scores of a group of students can indicate whether the teaching was effective. Summative assessments can also prepare students for tests that they'll need to take throughout their lives, including standardized testing, SATs and ACTs, and even employment tests.

The main drawback to summative assessments is that they often compel teachers to "teach to the test." With the increase in standardized testing that's being required by many states and districts, testing has gotten a bad name, and for good reason. Summative assessments, at their worst, encourage memorization, rather than an understanding of the subject matter.
Pros and Cons of Formative Assessments
Formative assessments provide instant feedback for teachers, allowing them to see how well students have grasped the material and to immediately adjust their teaching styles and curriculum. Formative assessments also can encourage students to participate and can increase cooperation among students. For students who "test poorly," this type of assessment gives teachers a more accurate view of what students are actually learning, not just what they're able to recount in a test. Best of all, formative assessments are effective tools in personalized learning.

The disadvantage of formative assessments is that they can take time, more time than teachers might perceive that they have. To repeatedly check students' learning takes more time than to administer one test at the end of a lesson or unit. The more time the formative assessments consume, the less time there is for teaching. Also, some students don't respond to formative assessments as well as they do to summative assessments. Students accustomed to earning points and grades might not be as motivated if their "achievements" aren't measured.
Education 4 Equity
At Education 4 Equity, we offer a 1-credit online course on Formative Assessments To Heighten Engagement, Guide Instruction, and Improve Learning. We also have some of the best professional development courses for teachers, delivered 100% online. We have 1-credit, 2-credit, and 3-credit online courses for teachers that qualify for graduate level credit and have been approved for LAUSD salary points through the Los Angeles Unified School District.

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Summative Assessments vs Formative Assessments | Online Course

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Learn about summative assessments vs formative assessments. We offer a 1-credit, 100% online course for teachers on Formative Assessments.

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Pre-assessments are so important because they help us to identify our students’ strengths, weaknesses, and knowledge prior to beginning our instruction.

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Do you currently use pre-assessments in your classroom? Sometimes we get so excited to dive into the next topic in our classrooms, that we forget the importance of pre-assessing our students, and there are so many neat pre-assessment ideas! Pre-assessments are so important because they help us to identify our students' strengths, weaknesses, and knowledge prior to beginning our instruction. I find pre-assessments to be so valuable to both myself and my students! Pre-assessments are just ONE way to engage your students in learning. There are so many ways to motivate your students.

What is a pre-assessment?

A pre-assessment is a short quiz or activity that you give your students before you start a new topic or unit. A pre-assessment is not a long, drawn out test. In fact, it's the opposite! It is quick and short and it shouldn't take your students more than 5-10 minutes to complete.

Why should I pre-assess my students?

Pre-assessments are a really great way to figure out if your students already understand the content we are about to teach! This is always helpful for me because if I know my students have a good understanding of the topic, I can do a quick review as opposed to spending so much time reteaching. And you know that I am all about saving time! By taking the time to quickly assess what my students already know or don't know, I am able to save so much time in my planning and instruction!

Also, pre-assessing allows my students to preview what they will be learning. This helps to "set the stage" and provides the expectation on where they should be focusing during the lesson, and again, there are so many pre-assessment ideas, especially for teaching science.

What are some pre-assessment ideas for science?

So, now that I've convinced you why pre-assessing is so helpful and important, I'm sure you're asking yourself "Okay but how do I do it?!" There are so many different ways you can incorporate pre-assessments into your classroom. Of course, you can give a quick quiz, but two of my favorite ways to learn what my students already know before starting a new topic are KWL charts and anticipation guides.

KWL Charts

Most teachers know or have used KWL charts at some point in their teaching career. A KWL chart is a three-section chart and students complete the "K" and the "W" part prior to my teaching. They write what they already know about the topic or unit and what they want to learn as well!

After my students have completed a KWL chart, I might find some gaps in learning that I did not expect or plan for. I am able to take the results and make changes, plan for extra review or more instruction than I initially planned for.

Here are some of my lessons that include ready-to-go KWL charts that you can use for your pre-assessments.
Severe Weather Lesson: Thunderstorms, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Winter Storms Composition of the Atmosphere Digital Interactive Lesson - Distance Learning
Anticipation Guides

Now, KWL charts are pretty common but not a lot of people have heard about or use anticipation guides! Anticipation guides provide students with statements about the unit they are about to start. Students will either mark true or false for each statement.

In this Water Cycle unit , I've created an anticipation guide that you can use to pre-assess student learning, and your students will revisit after the unit is completed to check their answers! My digital learning lessons all have pre-assessments for you as well!

Remember, pre-assessments don't need to be overly complicated. Remind your students that this is not a test or for a grade. It's going to help you teach them in the best way and help you save time in the process! Win-win!

Did you know that YOU could create the perfect science lesson for you students?

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Do you currently use pre-assessments in your classroom? Sometimes we get so excited to dive into the next topic in our classrooms, that we forget the importance of pre-assessing our students, and there are so many neat pre-assessment ideas! Pre-assessments are so important because they help us to identify our students' strengths, weaknesses, and knowledge...

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Shake things up and give your learners a performance boost!

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How do you typically measure learning? Do you find yourself using multiple-choice tests as your go-to strategy for assessing learners?

Of course, a well-designed multiple choice test can be effective in measuring performance, but there's more to it than just grades. Many benefits can be gained by assessing while the training is underway, too.

The two approaches are formally defined as:

Formative assessments, which are trainer or learner activities that assess and provide feedback during the learning process, and

Summative assessments, which use grades (or quantifiable data) to demonstrate learner growth after instruction

Ready to shake things up and give your learners a performance boost? Check out the Mix & Match Your Assessment Techniques to Boost Performance Infographic for ideas on how to mix and match assessment techniques for your next training program.

Formative Assessment Examples

Visual models

Verbal/written summaries

Peer activities

Self-assessments

Lists-charts and graphic organizers

Smmative Assessment Examples

Performance tasks

Written essays/reports

Oral presentations

Open book exams

Multiple choice tests

Participation tasks

Top performing companies and their L&D teams find it most beneficial to offer both formative and summative assessments. Not only are they able to improve overall performance measurement, but they are also able to provide a fuller learning experience for their training participants.
View aslo: Blended and Online Assessment Taxonomy Infographic

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Mix and Match Your Assessment Techniques to Boost Performance Infographic - e-Learning Infographics

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How do you typically measure learning? Do you find yourself using multiple-choice tests as your go-to strategy for assessing learners? Of course, a well-designed multiple choice test can be effective in measuring performance, but there's more to it than just grades. Many benefits can be gained by assessing while the training is underway, too.

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Most often what is different between formative and summative is how the data from the assessment is intended to be used.

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Formative assessment definition

The term Formative Assessment refers to a wide range of tools/methods/strategies that educators use to assess students during the educational process. Educators use formative assessments to monitor student comprehension on a subject matter, various learning needs of students, and/or the academic progress a student is making over the course of an instructional unit, such as an individual lesson, lesson sequence, chapter, or unit. They identify misconceptions and other learning gaps. When used correctly, formative assessments will reveal the concepts or skills (represented by learning standards) that students have mastered, as well as those which students are having the most difficulty in acquiring.

The purpose of data from formative assessments is to inform teachers as to what adjustments must be made to instruction or curriculum to ensure each student is mastering the material. This feedback should result in the teacher making intentional adjustments to instruction that could include changes to lesson plans, activities, instructional techniques, academic supports/scaffolds, and other aspects that affect student learning. This feedback can also be used to identify the weaknesses or deficits that are particular to a specific student, which can in turn be used to designate additional support, scaffolds, or other accommodations that the student will need to master the material. Formative assessments can be given before, during, or after a lesson to see what the student knows.

Formative assessments can be assigned by teachers (and most often are), but they can also be designed as self- or peer assessments, both of which provide unique learning opportunities for the student. More on that further in the article!

Formative assessment examples

As mentioned before, formative assessments come in a variety of forms. Technically, any form of student work can be a formative assessment as long as the data from that work is used by the teacher to make changes to instruction or curriculum. Here are some commonly used examples of formative assessments:

Checks for understanding

Intentional question sequencing

Class or homework assignments

In class discussions or dialogues

Weekly quizzes

Exit tickets

Self-assessments

Peer assessments

Rough Draft Essays

Remember, the most important part of assessments is the feedback the students receive from the teacher (or other evaluator). Without feedback, students are left to guess as to the changes they need to master the material. Without feedback, formative and summative assessments are generally ineffective as educational tools!

Summative assessment definition

Summative assessments are the ultimate assessment students take which determine what content they have learned at the end of an instructional unit. Usually, summative assessments come at the end of a unit, marking period, semester, and can come in many forms, such as essays, exams, or other types of large tests. Technically, a quiz or small assignment can be summative if you are using it to determine what a student has learned in a course.

Summative assessments are generally designed to determine if a student has mastered skills or knowledge as put forth by a set of educational standards or benchmark. Because of this, they are given higher stakes than formative assessments, often worth more points or credits, and are falsely considered to be more important than formative assessments. Feedback from summative assessments can be used formatively if the student (or teacher!) uses the data to make changes in their academic habits for later courses or if they go back to the material to review and relearn the material.

Summative assessment examples

Summative assessments also come in a variety of forms. Because the purpose of summatives is to see the sum of a student's learning, the form chosen should best match the skill or knowledge being evaluated.

Exams

Final draft essays

Tests

Dialogues

Final projects or reports

Final performance evaluations

Final presentations

Final grades

Standardized Tests

Formative and Summative Assessments: What is the difference?

Technically, formative and summative assessments can look almost identical. Most often what is different between the two is how the data from the assessment is intended to be used.

If the data collected from an assessment is meant to address inadequacies in a student's knowledge or skill set by informing a teacher on how to change their instruction, then that assessment is a formative assessment. For formative assessments, what matters is that the teacher is using the data to change some aspect of their teaching to address the inadequacy. Formative assessments are NOT end of unit/term assessments.

If the data collected from an assessment is meant to represent what a student has learned over an instructional unit, then that assessment is a summative assessment. An instructional unit could be a chapter, a unit, a marking period, a semester, or some other period of time in which specific concepts, topics, or material are expected to be learned or mastered by a student. Most often, summative assessments look like tests, essays, exams, and other end of term evaluations. Because they are meant to represent what a student has learned in total over a period of time, summative assessments are often more formal, substantial, and more time-consuming than formative assessments.

Formative assessment tend to be
More focused on a specific set of skills

Low stakes and more risk-free

Informal (but can also be formal)

Summative assessment tend to be
More cumulative or general

When is one more effective than the other?

Ideally, formative and summative assessments should be used together, specifically by balancing the two. Highly effective formative assessments will guide a student's acquisition of skills and knowledge towards mastery, as represented by a summative assessment. Thus, formative assessments, including teacher feedback, should lead a student to succeed on the summative assessment.

Successful use of formative assessments can be difficult because they are meant to change a teacher's instruction to fit the immediate learning needs of the students. This requires further effort by teachers, but more importantly, and elusively, time to restructure and reinvent lessons that meet these learning needs. Thus, there is often an over-reliance on assessments that are more summative in nature or use, rather than formative. However, a strong sequence and scaffolding of specific skills can produce a series of formative assessments that work effectively towards a summative assessment.

Because summative assessments are often found at the end of an instructional unit, there is not much time for students to review the feedback and ask questions of the teacher. A grade is given, but feedback isn't. When appropriate feedback is either not given or enough time for students to synthesize and comprehend the feedback is not given, the summative assessment becomes less effective as a tool for change. Thus, even though summative assessments can be used formatively to help students make changes to their learning, they are not often used effectively.

Ideas for using formative and summative assessment in the classroom

1. Explain the purpose of the assessment to students. Students will appreciate knowing how an assignment, quiz, test, or exam is used by the teacher.

1. Formative: Is the assessment being used to determine what help they need?

2. Summative: Is the assessment being used to determine what they have learned in total?

2. Design formative assessments to lead into summative assessments - they should be connected! For example, rough and final drafts. This lowers student workload (which they appreciate!), increases feedback opportunities, and makes the assessments more meaningful to students.

3. Increase the number of formative assessments but decrease summative assessments. Two or three summatives in a course are probably sufficient, and all other assessments should be formative and leading to those summatives.

Use special formative assessments! The following is a list of special formative assessments that can help you guide your students to mastery and to success on their summative assessment! Here are some you should consider using:

Checks for understanding (CFU)

CFUs are really powerful for determining if you students are comprehending material in a moment. Traditional examples include hand-raising or whole class questioning, in which verbally identify to the teacher what they know or don't know. There are also alternative methods such as :

1. Clicker questions

2. Quick surveys

3. Thumbs up-thumbs down

4. Green-yellow-red lights

5. Finger ratings

6. Quick writes

7. And more!

Self assessments

Self assessments are really powerful tools for student assessment because they are generally more meaningful to students. They also give students more power over their learning and education. Using a rubric or work sample, students can assess themselves to determine their strengths and weaknesses. This can enable students to develop and improve skills of self-awareness and self-regulation, and can ultimately help students to learn to manage their own education (which should be the goal of any teacher!). Students do not naturally have the skills to monitor or assess their learning; they need to be taught how to self-assess, so make sure you include time in your lesson to teach this! Some examples of self assessments include:

1. Checklists

2. Rubrics

3. Reflection writing assignments

4. Surveys

Peer assessments

Peer assessments are another really powerful tool for student assessment. Students tend to highly value the opinions and ideas of their peers which makes this kind of feedback more meaningful to students. Also, students often work harder if they know that a peer will see their work. However, just as with self-assessment, students do not naturally have the skills to effectively evaluate their peers. They need to be taught these skills specifically! Make sure you carve out time to teach these skills! Some examples of peer assessments are:

1. Essay peer review

2. Presentations peer review

3. Project carousel

4. Peer grading

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Formative and Summative Assessments: What's the Difference?

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The term Formative Assessment refers to a wide range of tools/methods/strategies that educators use to assess students...

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When we assess arts integration, we are looking to see how a student’s understanding and application of knowledge evolved over time.  Assessment is about the process, not the end product.

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The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM

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Assessment Strategies for Integrated Studies

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There are so many types of assessment to use with arts integration and STEAM. Here's a guide with ideas and practical assessment strategies to try.

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In this comprehensive book by assessment expert Susan M. Brookhart, you will learn the foundational concepts and practical skills necessary to be successful with classroom assessment.

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SUSAN M. BROOKHART, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita in the School of Education at Duquesne University and an independent educational consultant and author based in Helena, Montana. She was the 2007-2009 Editor of Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, and is currently an Associate Editor of Applied Measurement in Education.

She is author or co-author of eighteen books and over 70 articles and book chapters on classroom assessment, teacher professional development, and evaluation. She serves on the editorial boards of several journals and on several national advisory panels. She has been named the 2014 Jason Millman Scholar by the Consortium for Research on Educational Assessment and Teaching Effectiveness (CREATE) and is the recipient of the 2015 Samuel J. Messick Memorial Lecture Award from ETS/TOEFL.

Dr. Brookhart's research interests include the role of both formative and summative classroom assessment in student motivation and achievement, the connection between classroom assessment and large-scale assessment, and grading. She also works with schools, districts, regional educational service units, universities, and states doing professional development. Dr. Brookhart received her Ph.D. in Educational Research and Evaluation from The Ohio State University, after teaching in both elementary and middle schools.

Web page: susanbrookhart.com

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Classroom Assessment Essentials: Brookhart, Susan M: 9781416632528: Books - Amazon.ca

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This resource includes new and updated formative assessment templates, technology connections with easy-to-use digital applications for every assessment, a new section on rubrics and self-assessments, a new focus on scaffolding ELLs, and so much more! These ready-to-go activities complete with step-by-step lessons, student samples, tiering tips, and reproducible student pages can be used across the curriculum and provide valuable assessment data for teachers.

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Blanca E. Duarte is a native New Yorker. Born in Queens, New York, to immigrant parents, she was brought up to believe "with an education, you can do anything". After graduating with a degree in business, she turned her passion towards computers and systems. At 29, she decided to pursue a degree in teaching and found educational technology to be a perfect blend of what she was looking for.

The 2nd edition of 25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom turned out to be a labor of love, both in deepening the friendship she already had with the first edition's author, Judy Dodge, and as a yearlong dedication to the thousands of teachers and students for whom she worked with since 2001.

Blanca is passionate about education, universal access, and redesigning learning experiences.

She believes in work as an extension of play, in future oriented endeavors, in the platform as the web, and most importantly, that with an education, you can do anything

25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom with a focus on ELLs and Technology to support learning, is her first book. She and co-author Judy Dodge, can be found in classrooms supporting teachers and, on occasion, in townships in South Africa, connecting children to the U.S. through technology.

She is also cofounder of LogicWing, a company focused on leveraging technology to help people live, work, and learn.

She currently travels between New York and Florida with her husband, Anthony, a lover of fantasy books, and her daughter, Erica, an avid reader.

Twitter: @blancaedu

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25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom, 2nd Edition

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25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom, 2nd Edition : Dodge, Judith, Duarte, Ms. Blanca: Amazon.ca: Office Products

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This book entails:
-What classroom assessment entails and how it works
-How to analyze assessment projects.

-Forty classroom assessment techniques.
-Practical advice on how to analyze projects.

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Techniques for classroom assessment is a book that takes you round ways that are proven for assessment in the class, it entails:
*What classroom assessment entails and how it works
* How to analyze assessment projects.
*Forty classroom assessment techniques.
*Practical advice on how to analyze projects.

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Techniques for classroom assessment is a book that takes you round ways that are proven for assessment in the class, it entails: *What classroom assessment entails and how it works * How to analyze assessment projects. *Forty classroom assessment techniques. *Practical advice on how to analyze pr...