If you’re shopping around from vendor to vendor for a formative test, the tests you’re seeing probably aren’t formative. A formative assessment is a tool that teachers use to measure student grasp of the specific topics and skills they currently are teaching. It’s a “midstream” tool to identify specific student misconceptions and mistakes while the material is being taught. 

Formative assessments are not designed to measure post-instruction mastery or to inform students’ course grades. In fact, true formative assessment does not contribute to grades at all because, by definition, it is conducted before the teacher has moved on to new topics and skills. Therefore, at the point formative assessments are administered, students will not necessarily have reached the level of content mastery they will achieve as a result of continuing instruction. 

The fact is that formative assessment is what teachers do on a daily basis. Teachers design and administer formative assessments, which can take the form of classroom quizzes, worksheets, homework, projects, and portfolios, not to mention the teacher’s observations of class work. A test vendor would have to take up permanent residence in the classroom in order to provide true formative assessment. 

So what are the vendors selling? The preponderance of externally developed tests being offered are really summative, whether they are used as end-of-year assessments, early-warning tests, or benchmark assessments covering material taught in recent weeks or months. Typically, periodic summative testing helps to identify relative strengths and weaknesses of instructional programs, as well as students “at risk,” to pinpoint the need for additional help before those students take subsequent, high-stakes summative assessments. 

Many of the tests rely on multiple-choice questions, which many educators contend do not provide the kind of diagnostic information they need to adjust instruction to address the misconceptions and errors of individual students. Experience has shown that constructed-response questions, which enable teachers to see actual student work, lead to a better understanding of student reasoning and help teachers to detect misconceptions and erroneous practices. 

When evaluating the formative assessment practices of teachers, there are three important things to consider. First, timing is critical. Formative assessments must be administered during the time the content is being taught. The second key consideration is whether the assessments yield accurate, pertinent diagnostic information; does the student’s work reveal specific misunderstandings with respect to the content and skills being taught? The third consideration might seem obvious, but it is at the heart of where attention concerning formative assessment should be directed. Is the diagnostic information being used to inform and adjust instruction for individual students? 

Teachers are formative assessors. It’s what they do every day. But if the results don’t guide instructional practices, then the exercise is virtually meaningless. Given that, it is just as important to invest in professional development that helps teachers gather and use diagnostic information as it is to purchase still more summative tests.

Stuart Kahl