Formative Assessment For Learning Essay

‘The main purpose of schooling is learning and development, and this should be supported by appropriate assessment. Assessment is undertaken to provide information about students’ learning and/or their attitudes to learning and doing mathematics’ (AAMT 2008 as cited in Reys, R, ‘et al’ 2012). Assessment of students mathematical learning can happen in various forms, traditionally with tests done at the end of a topic to link a student’s learning which can also be known as summative assessment, to new activities and quizzes known as formative assessment. Both of these forms of assessment are used in the classroom and each has their own purpose in a student’s learning progress.

Clarke, S 2001 explains that ‘If we think of our children as plants,

Its goal could include improving the learning of a student or class. (McIntosh, M 1997. TABLE 1). They usually do not affect a student’s grade and are used for teachers to access how the students are performing and help with lesson planning. Formative assessment has been used in the classroom for many years and some traditional use of formative assessment in mathematics can include observation, worksheets, and diagnostic testing. Work/homework sheets were used to assess the student’s abilities at a given time and to guide the teacher into where to go next, for example a student would complete questions from a text book and the teacher would correct their answers. This was a slow and time taking method as the students would go through a process where they would complete the handout and return for marking, this could also be similar to textbook which is still being used to this day it is becoming less obvious and used in today’s

(Reys, R et al 2012). Although there are many other traditional types of formative assessment used in mathematics diagnostic testing as stated in Silvestri, K, 2016 has provided a tool to determine students level of understanding to allow the teacher to plan for the following classes and usually conducted at the beginning of a topic. In order for the teacher to effectively plan according to the needs of the students, students need to understand that their diagnostic test results are not reflected on their end of the year