Kate McCarthy

Teacher’s Academy

Assessment Journal
During the process of my observations, I have realized that assessments are more
obvious and easier to observe in high school than in elementary. For example, in elementary,
there tend to be more formative assessments like games such as tic-tac-toe to improve spelling
or one formative test at the beginning of the year for math. On the other hand, I have also
already observed a few summative assessments such as spelling tests or preparatory
standardized tests for our school to personally accumulate data like aMath. At the high school,
both assessments are used, but summative assessments are easier to point out. For example,
at the end of a semester, PCM high school students will take finals which is a summative
assessment because teachers are not going back to reteach. In this essay, one should be able
to recognize the differences between summative and formative assessments and how they are
applied in the classroom.
If you don’t know the definition of summative assessments, it is an assessment that is
formal and final. What I mean by that is that what is on the assessment will not be gone over
again or retested on in the year. Throughout the entire course of my observations, I have
witnessed some formal, written assessments, but they are seen more in high school than
elementary. In elementary, there are some summative assessments, but they are not nearly as
important or serious as the high school. Finally, there are many popular forms of summative
testing such as exams, presentations, projects, etc.
On the other hand, formative assessments are the opposite of summative assessments.
Formative assessments are assessments that are considered more informal and contain topics
that are likely to be retested. For example, in both forms of school, you may see “exit tickets” or
“bell-ringers” whose goal is to check for understanding and progress over a current topic being
taught. While most formative assessments may not necessarily seem like an assessment at all,
they are, but they are usually designed by teachers so that it may not seem like you are being
tested at all. On that note, some formative assessments aren’t even taken for points. While this
may seem obvious in an elementary setting, when looking at the high school level, some
formative assessments are graded on completion instead of correction.
To sum, there are many differences between summative and formative assessments. If
you are to take only one thing out of this essay, it should be that summative assessments are
usually more formal and final while formative assessments are informal and may be retested on.
Additionally, if one should have problems with identifying between the two types of
assessments, just pinpoint the goal of the assessment and what is the main idea of the
assessment. Lastly, to restate, while both assessments are very important to the learning of
students, it is also important to use specific assessments in certain situations.