Summative and formative assessment

Abstract

Assessment is critically important to education both for accreditation and to support learning. Yet the literature dealing with formative and summative assessment definitions and terminology is not aligned. This article reports an empirical small-scale study of lecturers in Education at an English university. The research posits that these lecturers, owing to the inconsistencies and infelicities in the literature, will have an incomplete and unharmonious understanding of summative and formative assessment and the relationship between the two. The results show that lecturers' understanding of assessment terminology and relationships reflects the fragmented theoretical and practical frameworks available. This study would seem to signal the need for us all to examine our assessment processes in order to (i) be clear and explicit on what we do, (ii) understand how assessment processes relate to each other, and (iii) evaluate how they impact on our practice and our students

A Comparison of Assessment Beliefs of Science and Education Lecturers in a University

“…Both SA and FA are seen as promoting learning relevant to grading. Those who did not see FA as requiring grading (40 % in each group) may believe that feedback to students does not occur (Taras, 2008a). This interpretation may not have been realised by respondents, particularly as so few of them explicitly linked the definition of FA with feedback in the definitions.…”

“…They were asked not to confer but told that they could ask for clarification of any question. The questionnaire was not piloted because it was that used by Taras (2008a) who had already undertaken a piloting exercise.…”

“…apers published in 2008 (Taras, 2008a), 2013 (Taras & Davies, 2013) and 2014 (Taras & Davies, 2014) examined university lecturers' beliefs and opinions relating to assessment in a UK University's departments of education and science to explore their understanding of assessment issues. This paper presents comparison between the two sets of results, to determine the extent to which beliefs are shared across disparate disciplines in a single university.…”

Student perceptions of their learning and engagement in response to the use of a continuous e-assessment in an undergraduate module

“…We can therefore see that the choice of assessment is crucial, and correctly aligning the assessment to the learning out o es a eate a positi e lea i g e pe ie e Biggs a d Ta g, , e e if the stude t is lea i g fo the assess e t . Assessment of student learning is a fu da e tal fu tio of highe edu atio (Higher Education Academy, 2012, 7) and assessment is important both for accreditation and in order to support learning (Taras, 2008). In many cases there is a belief that an assessment is either formative, to support learning, or summative, leading to accreditation (Wiliam and Black, 1996).…”

Exploring the Association Between Formative and Summative Assessments in a Pre-University Science Program

“…More simply, Harlen (2005) defines formative assessment as Bassessment for learning^(p. 207), while summative assessment is Bassessment of learning^(p. 207). However, some scholars, such as Taras (2008) and Lau (2015), note a tension between formative and summative assessment functions in the literature, as these functions do not always appear clearly separable, and emphasize the need to better understand the link between formative and summative assessment. In much previous research on assessment, the two types of assessment have been investigated in silos.…”