As the role of testing continues to increase in public education (now being used from teacher evaluation to teacher tenure to teacher pay to student retention and promotion), the definitions become more and more important. What is the difference between Summative Assessment, Formative Assessment, Interim Assessment, Benchmark Assessment, and a host of other terms that educators, policy-makers, researchers, and big business test makers alike constantly confuse? In the book, Transformative Assessment, author James Popham makes it clear what research and best practice mean when it comes to formative assessment. Formative assessment is a process used by both teachers and students to adjust instruction. It is not another test.
My favorite section from the book makes this point very clear, "Remember, formative assessment is not the occasional administration of classroom tests; it's an integral dimension of ongoing instruction whereby teachers and students adjust what they're doing. Formative assessment, therefore, becomes the chief activity through which teachers monitor how well they're teaching something and, if necessary, determine how to adjust their instruction. Similarly, formative assessment becomes the chief activity through which students monitor how well they're learning something and, if necessary, determine how to adjust their learning tactics." Pg. 29
In other other words, if you want to help students become learners, formative assessment (a system of effective feedback, not necessarily more tests) is how to do it.
Popham argues that the ongoing practice of Classroom Formative Assessment (the process of knowing where your students are in the learning progression and constantly making adjustments to help them achieve the learning target) is the single best way to help students show growth on external summative assessments (tests).
FYI: James taught alongside Madeline Hunter at UCLA. I think he might know what he is talking about.
