Guide Questions

Elaborate on how summative and formative assessment are correctly and

incorrectly differentiated.
Dr. Robert Stake, a professor of Education of the University of Illinoi said When the
cook tastes the soup thats formative; when the guests, taste the soup, thats
summative." From this very amusing comparison made by Dr. Stake, the difference
between the two can be easily keyed out.
Formative assessment is an evaluation conducted during instruction in order for
teachers to decide either to retain their approach or to change it so that better learning
and instruction can take place. Better stated, the purpose of formative evaluation is to
validate or ensure that the goals of the instruction are being achieved and to improve
the instruction, if necessary, by means of identification and subsequent remediation of
problematic aspects (Weston, Mc Alpine, and Bordonaro, 1995).
Summative assessment is the evaluation of a students performance and achievements
at the end of an instruction by means of an exam, projects, recitation or paper and then
comparing it against some standard. The assessment could be used to decide whether
students should be place in an enrichment class, to promote students or to simply
recognize their achievements.
Based on the above given description, it is thus wrong to have the idea that formative
and summative are two different kinds of assessment or the two different methods of
collecting information about students to assess them. Instead, they should be thought
as the two different usages of data or the two different interpretations of data. One is to
improve instruction and the other one is the representation of students achievement.

Between formative and summative assessment, which can better be

associated with assessment FOR learning and assessment OF learning? Justify
these associations.
The word for signifies purpose. It is used to express why something is done. As
defined in the preceding question, formative is the assessment used to help educators
improve their approach and work on something that could better help students. Stated
differently, formative assessment is done so as to aid teachers in deciding whether to go
on using their approach or to pause and make some changes in order for effective
learning to occur. Hence, assessment FOR learning or assessment for learning
purposes can better be associated with formative assessment.
OF, on the other hand is indicates or express connection or relation between things.
Thus, assessment OF learning is associated with summative assessment as it

represents the record or measure of the students level in connection to what they have
achieved during the learning process.

Give examples of summative and formative assessments.

Both summative and formative assessments come in different forms. Since summative
assessment is conducted to gather information that will represent or sum up students
learning attainment, it takes place after the learning process has been completed. Some
examples of summative assessments are written exams, final project, paper work, and
portfolios.
Formative assessments are in the form of Observations during in-class activities; of
students non-verbal feedback during lecture, homework exercises as review for exams
and class discussions, reflections journals that are reviewed periodically during the
semester, Question and answer sessions, both formalplanned and informal
spontaneous, conferences between the instructor and student at various points in the
semester, in-class activities where students informally present their results, student
feedback collected by periodically answering specific question about the instruction and
their self-evaluation of performance and progress. All of these assessments provide
furnish information while learning takes place so as teachers can either retain, change
or improve their approach.

In what ways do different stakeholders (members of society) use / interpret

results from assessments? Which cases categorize as formative, which ones as
summative?
Assessments are used by stakeholders in different ways:

Students this is categorized as both formative and summative as students can

use the assessment data to either identify areas where improvement is needed
to achieve better learning or use it to know how much was attained at the end of
the learning process or to know whether they can reach their goals.

Teachers this is categorized as both formative and summative because

teachers need the assessment data either to provide information related to the
effectivity of the approach used in learning or to know how much the student has
achieved and whether the student should be promoted or be placed in an
enrichment program.

Parents this is categorized as summative as parents concern is to know

whether their child is growing well or to know the rate of their childrens
attainment at the end of the learning process.

School Administrators this is categorized as formative because the result of the

assessments is used by school to confirm whether the school has met the
standard required in providing quality education to produce citizens equipped
with the learning needed by the society.

Legislators this is categorized as summative as the law makers use the

assessment data to know what could be done in order to create a strong
workforce or to know whether they producing a new generation that is ready to
lead.

Which assessment (formative or summative) is high-stake? Explain. How is

this unfavorable to learning?
High-stake assessments also known as accountability assessments are summative as
the assessment data can be obtained at the end of the learning process for the purpose
of determining the achievement level of the students in order to make important
decisions whether said students should be advanced to the next level or should be
allowed to graduate. These assessments are also used for schools to show that they
are making progress or for teachers evaluation so as to know whether teachers should
be promoted or be penalized for lack of efficiency. For these two reasons, high stake
assessment is considered unfavorable to learning as it can only represent a figure that
is easily influence by the desire to just meet what was required from schools or
teachers. This is not helpful at all to learning as it makes teachers to just focus on the
lessons that will most likely be given in the test which leads to the suppression of
academic development for students will be deprived to learn more than what is given in
the said summative assessment.
Which type of assessment is more favorable for student learningsummative
or formative? Elaborate. But then again, why is summative assessment
important? (See Summative Assessment by Bilash, 2009 )
As discussed in the preceding answer, summative is not favorable for learning as it has
the tendency to only limit the learning process to items that will be given in the test.
Hence, formative is more favorable since the very purpose of said assessment is
assessment for learning. Teachers conducting this type assessment do not only aim
for a higher ranking rate of their students but eventually attain it as the assessment for
learning furnish them information that will help them be better equipped to provide

effective learning process. As teachers get to identify through the formative assessment
or assessment for learning what works and what does not in their approach, they can
come up with a better program for a more beneficial learning process. However,
summative assessment is still essential as it helps teachers in making important
decisions related to students progress.

Compare obtrusive, unobtrusive and student-generated assessments. Give

examples. (See also Three Types of Formative Assessment Defined; Formative
Assessment Techniques). > Are these assessments summative or formative in
nature?
Obtrusive assessment does not take place during instruction which is actually
interrupted when the obtrusive assessment is conducted. An example of which is a quiz
of a topic already discussed, a demonstration or performance of what has been learned
as when a teacher asked a student to recite how digestive system works through the
use of a model.
Unobtrusive assessment is done through observation, thus, learning or instruction is not
interrupted. An example of this is when a teacher observes as a student work on a
problem given on the board.
Student-generated assessment as the name suggests is an assessment wherein the
students themselves propose the manner in which they can manifest their learning
achievement on a given topic. For example, a student can propose that he makes a
power point about how biodiesel is produced.

In addition to the ideas put forward above by Marzano (2010) and Shermis
(2011), how else can you compare summative and formative assessments? Below
are additional resources that might help you with this task. Remember to cite
your sources.
Simply put, summative assessment is used by stakeholders to identify the end result of
a learning process while formative assessment is used to identify what else can be
done to achieve an effective learning.
Reference:
1.
2.
3.
4.

http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html
http://www.edudemic.com/summative-and-formative-assessments/
http://www.edutopia.org/groups/assessment/250941
http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/assessment/formative
%20and_summative_assessment.pdf

5. http://edglossary.org/high-stakes-testing/
6. Connecting the Dots: Formative, Interim, and Summative Assessment, G.
Gage Kingsbury, Dylan Wiliam, & Steven L. Wise, NWEA