Formative assessment - is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students' achievement of intended instructional outcomes (ccsso.org)

Purpose: The purpose of formative assessment tasks and activities is to provide the teacher with a window into students' cognitive processes in order to make adjustments to instruction. Formative assessments allow students to show their thinking and allow teachers a way to see and gauge students' cognitive processes (teal.ed.gov) Formative is: OF or FOR learning Formative assessment is designed primarily as an assessment FOR learning because the assessment takes place during the learning process and drives further instruction rather than waiting to the end after the lesson and instruction are complete.

Advantages a. Teachers can target students areas of need b. Lessons that haven't met the target can be changed to improve student learning. c. can take assessment anxiety away from students because they are not graded. Disadvantages a, May not give the whole picture of a student. b. Can feel ongoing and time consuming. c. Students may not take the assessment seriously because there is no point or grade value assigned - resulting in incorrect data collected by the teacher during the assessment

Example: Instructors can create a “Journal Jot” online document for each student using Google Docs or a platform like Blackboard to measure how well students are retaining information, In their journal, students can respond individually to prompts like K-W-L: what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned; or 3-2-1: three things you found out; two things you found interesting; one thing you didn’t understand.

Definition: Peer assessment is a process through which students and instructors share in the evaluation of student work based on assessment criteria (learningsciences.utexas.edu) OF or FOR learning Peer assessment is primarily designed as an assessment for learning because students are encouraged to learn more deeply, building up their understanding, rather than just their knowledge of the facts, as well as gaining insight into their own approach to an assessment task in comparison to their peers (reading.ac.uk)

Purpose: The purpose of peer assessment is for students to act as the "assessor" and to gain an opportunity to better understand assessment criteria. The purpose is also to transfer some ownership of the assessment process to the student, thereby potentially increasing their motivation and engagement (reading.ac.uk)

Advantages: a. engages students in the learning process b. motivates students to achieve higher c. supports the development of critical thinking, interpersonal and other skills Disadvantages: a. students may undervalue the significance if b. it does not contribute to the summative grade c. can raise social tensions and can be impacted by social relationships between students d. can set individuals up in competition with each other without careful explanation and preparation.

Example: Have students performing code reviews in programming, engineering, etc.—opens a window into where their peers went wrong/right in their thinking. By seeing the errors others have made by evaluating their logic, notation and problem solving skills, students can pinpoint trouble spots to avoid in future.

Definition: Self-assessment - is an assessment that requires students to reflect on their own work and judge how well they have performed in relation to the assessment criteria (reading.ac.uk) OF or FOR learning Self-assessment is designed primarily as an assessment FOR learning because the assessment takes place during instruction as a quick way for the teacher to gauge where the students are in order to adapt the lesson to better meet their needs. It is not as effective when used as an assessment OF learning because their are too many subjective factors involved.

Purpose: The purpose of self-assessment is to get an idea of the range of abilities and experience of the class as a whole, not to evaluate individuals (cmu.edu)

Advantages: a. Easy to construct and score b. Low-anxiety for the student c. Provides timely feedback and allowsfor quick assessment of student learning d. Promotes academic integrity through student self-reporting of learning progress e. increases student motivation Disadvantages: a. Students may not be able to accurately assess their abilities b. Takes time for students to learn how to do this effectively and correctlyc. c. Students will grade themselves subjectively.

Example: After having students write a short story and then type it on the computer, provide them with time to look at the grading rubric they received at the beginning of the project and evaluate their work. Then give them time to go back and make the changes necessary in order to improve their short story.

Performance-based assessment - is based around getting students to perform tasks that require them to show a variety of skills learned and to come to their own conclusions around a subject. OF or FOR learning Performance-Based assessment is designed primarily as an assessment FOR learning because the assessment acknowledges the critical importance of the instructional decisions made by students and their teachers working as a team. Students use evidence of their own progress to understand what comes next for them. Also, Performance-Based assessment is a continuous assessment throughout the learning process, not just as the beginning, middle, or end. (ati.pearson.com)

Purpose: - The purpose of performance-based assessment (in contrast to traditional assessment such as standardized testing) is to assess a better overall epresentation of student progress including the effectiveness of teacher lesson plans, worksheets and study skills (technology.com) - Another purpose of performance-based assessment is to assess not only if a student knows a fact and/or skill but if that student can implement/use that fact and/or skill (ascd.org)

Advantages: a. Students are enabled and more responsible for the demonstration of his/her learning. b. Allows for the acquisition and execution of real-world skills and not just the accumulation of content knowledge c. Provides teachers with information about how a student understands and applies knowledge Disadvantages: a. Difficult to implement successfully in large classes with limited teacher resources b. Moving to this type of performance learning and/or assessment requires an investment of time that will deduct from actual instructional/learning time c. Grading becomes much more subjective than the objective right or wrong standardized test.

Example: Have the students create and maintain a "blog" on the class blog website by adding a post to it once a week. Depending what was taught during the week, the students will have various criteria of what their blog post should be about and how it should be structured.

Summative assessment - is an assessment that evaluates student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark (cmu.edu). Summative assessment is designed primarily as an assessment OF learning because the assessment takes place at the end of the learning process and evaluates performance rather. It is not primarily designed to drive instruction

Purpose: The purpose of summative assessment is to determine to what extent the instructional and learning goals have been met (education.com)

Advantages: a. Evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs b. measure progress toward goals c. assist in making course-placement decisions d. can allow for the correction of future instruction to better meet needs if interpreted/used appropriately Disadvantages: a. Can cause very high assessment anxiety in students b. Students don't have the option to re-take or improve upon a summative assessment. It is a final mark. c. Provide information a bout a student's performance too late in the learning process

Example: Online multiple choice exams/test after reading a short story that assesses the students ability to comprehend and analyze the main elements of the story

Diagnostic assessment is an assessment that takes place before beginning a lesson or unit in order to gather data on the students existing knowledge on a particular subject. Also known as a pre-assessment (education.nt.gov.au). These assessments diagnose a students strengths and areas of need based on detailed data that has been gathered. Some diagnostic assessments are considered formative as well. Diagnostic Assessments are FOR learning as they are used as a tool to find out how best to scaffold a student's learning.

Purpose: The purpose of diagnostic assessment is to gather information about each student's prior knowledge before beginning instruction (thinkonline)

Advantages: . -- a. Informs Instruction for students b. Gives valuable direction for teacher scaffolding c. Individualized - students are getting appropriate scaffolding per their needs. Disadvantages: a. Individualized - can be limiting b. Snapshot of a very specific time or skill

Example: if they are heading into an eLearning module that may be particularly challenging, or requires prerequisite knowledge, a quiz can give you a good indication of what they already know about the topic and how you may want to present the new information.