Summative Assessment In Modern Education

When using the term assessment, one tends to think of traditional schooling where quizzes and tests were used to determine a person’s intelligence. An assessment is the gathering information about a person’s knowledge using different kinds of evidence (Wright, 2010, p. 93. Puckett & Black, 2008, p.9). In the modern education system, the styles of assessment vary between schools, states, and countries. Traditional assessment investigated what students’ strengths and weaknesses were, and focus on the weaknesses to achieve competence for early schooling (Carr, 2001, pp. 1-3). Traditional assessment methods stem back to early childhood theories such as behavioural theory and psychosocial theory. Puckett and Black (2008) comment that behavioural

Formative assessments require the educator to be organised and efficient as there is many record keeping processes going on at one time, with the whole group of students. Summative assessments are pre-planned, making them time efficient but they often lack the flexibility to ensure all students’ learning styles are catered for. Standardised testing allows the relevant government authorities, school stakeholders, family, and community to observe student achievement on a whole, but there can be a lot of pressure to perform to the expected level and again, this method does not account for students individual learning differences. Non-standardised testing varies as each school will have their own work plans devised for the year, these plans will vary between schools and may disadvantage a student who has to change schools during the year. Authentic assessments and assessments for learning are aimed at teaching real life skills, which are useful in everyday life. This includes incorporating literacy and numeracy, as well as other topics, into assessments and lessons in a meaningful way. Formal assessments include summative and standardised testing, they are assessments which are fixed in context and not modified to suit the individual learner. Informal assessments include formative assessments and assessments for learning. These assessments are focused on the individual and making the most out of learning opportunities. There is some advantage to using a combination of assessment styles, an educator must consider what rules and regulations must be followed whilst ensuring that each student receives a quality education, using methods that suit each