When you administer an assessment to students, do you think about the following?
1. When did I use this assessment?
2. Why did I do this assessment? What was the purpose of assessing my students in this case? e.g. passing to the next class, regular check, etc.
3. What did I do with the results of the assessment?
Answering these questions clarifies the purpose or objective of the assessment.
There are mainly three types of assessments based on purpose. The three purposes of assessment are each given a name. Diagnostic, Formative and Summative. Though in this course, we will be mainly focusing on Formative Assessments, let’s take a quick look at what each of these 3 types of assessments means and when they are typically conducted using the below infographic and text:
I. DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENTS
Before we begin a new topic it is important that we base our teaching on what children already know. What they already understand is the starting point for new learning. Students will get bored if we teach them something that they already know. On the other hand, they will not understand the new material if it is too far beyond their present knowledge.
Finding out what students already know (and what they don’t know) before we start to teach is the main purpose of diagnostic testing. It helps us to teach the topic at a level that the students can understand based on their overall strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and skills.
This will be especially important at the start of the school year, when new pupils join the class and when we start a new topic. For example – testing if students can add two numbers without carrying before teaching them addition with carrying. Or by discussing in the class what pupils had for breakfast that day and know about which food they eat is healthy vs unhealthy before starting a class on food and nutrition.
II. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
As we are teaching a topic we are constantly bringing new material and ideas as well as new experiences and concepts to the children. Some children will learn fast while others will find the concepts and more challenging. Some will learn through what they are told or read, some may need to see examples of the concept or to practise the technique before they understand and remember it. Regularly assessing how much children understand or remember the topic helps us to adjust our teaching. We soon learn which parts they find hard and we can then try to explain them in a different way. Or perhaps the assessment will show that we need to do more practice on a particular part of the topic.
Formative assessment is done during the teaching. It informs us, as the teacher, so that we can adjust our teaching according to how students are progressing. It also informs students about their own understanding of what was just taught.
Examples: A mid-topic test, or asking students questions as we go round the class. We need to constantly be on the lookout for things that the children don’t understand. If a lot of children have the same problems we will need to re-teach the topic (perhaps in a different way and with different examples) to the whole class.
III. SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
At the end of a topic, unit, term or year we may want to assess each student’s knowledge, learning or proficiency in what has been taught.
The purpose of a summative assessment is to gauge students’ comprehension or knowledge of the material taught. It should always be based on the syllabus and be a measure of how well the student has achieved the learning objectives set out for the course.
The results of summative tests are often measured with a grade or percentage.
How a student performs can determine if they have “passed” and can progress to the next level. Or they can be used to award prizes for those who have achieved the most. They are a measure of achievement that are often used to communicate the pupil’s achievements in that area of study to their parents or guardians.
Examples: The CBSE 10th board exam is a summative assessment of students’ learning at the end of their 10th grade. Students who pass in the CBSE 10th board exams qualify for entry into 11th grade. Another example is a Math or Science Olympiad test (ASSET or SOF) where students are given ranks and are awarded.
