Formative and Summative Assessments Criteria

Formative and Summative Assessments

Criteria and norm-referenced assessment strategies

Assessments are often divided into two major categories: summative and formative. Summative assessments test information in a cumulative fashion. Examples of these types of assessments include standardized state or district tests, or chapter or semester reviews. The weakness or limitation of summative assessments is that they are usually so infrequent, and happen so late in the learning process, they provide little relevant information for students, and provide (arguable) value only in evaluating the success of teachers or schools in supporting student learning. In contrast, formative assessments are given at frequent intervals as "part of the instructional process" itself and are "used to make instructional adjustments and interventions during the learning process" (Garrison & Ehringhaus, 2010: 1). For example, after a series of poor quiz results that indicate the majority of the students in a math class do not understand negative numbers, the teacher might review this concept before moving forward in algebra.

Both of these methods can deploy norm-referenced or criteria-referenced grading. A norm-referenced test means that all students taking the test are 'graded' against one another. Norm-referenced measures (NRM) are "most appropriate when one wishes to make comparisons across large numbers of students" and make "important decisions regarding student placement and advancement" (Assessment purposes, 2010, Assessment measures). Modern IQ tests for children, for example, "relate the mental development of a child to the child's chronological age… the intelligence quotient was equal to 100 times the mental age divided by the chronological age" (De la Jara 2010). In other words, certain tasks are determined to be 'normal' for a child of a certain age, and the child's ability or lack thereof to perform at, below, or above this level determines the child's IQ score. Another good example of a norm-referenced test is that of the GRE (graduate record exam), a standardized test for prospective graduate students which is computer-interactive. Depending on the answers to certain gateway questions, the test will 'adjust' its level of difficulty, providing easier or harder questions, and based upon the subject's number answered correctly and the difficulty of the questions, give the student a final score.

Interestingly, the first IQ tests were criterion-referenced -- in other words, students could simply pass or fail. The first intelligence tests were created solely "to be able to identify children who might need special education due to their retarded mental development" and to exclude those who were not prepared, intellectually, for very rigid French elementary school system (De la Jara 2010). However, criterion-referenced measures (CRM) are today deemed "most appropriate for quickly assessing what concepts and skills students have learned from a segment of instruction. Criterion-referenced assessments measure how well a student performs against an objective or criterion rather than another student. Criterion-referenced classrooms are mastery-oriented, informing all students of the expected standard and teaching them to succeed on related outcome measures. The bell curve in this case is skewed heavily to the right, as all students are expected to succeed" (Assessment purposes, 2010, Assessment measures).

Test comparison

A good way to understand norm and criterion-referenced tests is to compare two simple 'tests.' Take, for example, the physical fitness test one must pass to be accepted into the Marines:

Minimum Fitness Requirments for Each PFT Event -- Males

Age

Pull-Ups

Crunches

3-Mile Run

17-26

3

50

28:00

27-39

3

45

29:00

40-45

3

45

30:00

46+

3

40

33:00

Marine Corps PFT Classification Scores

Class

Age 17-26

Age 27-39

Age 40-45

Age 46+

1st

2nd

3rd

88

65

This test is entirely criterion-referenced. A prospective recruit either passes or fails the standards set for his or her age group. It does not matter if he tries to pass the test with a particularly poor class of recruits, and does better than the mediocre candidates; it does not matter if he comes in last during the 3-mile run, so long as he completes the run in 28 minutes (Powers 2010).

In contrast, a purely norm-referenced test is that of an audition for the Julliard Music School:

CLARINET

Students accepted into the clarinet department must own or have access to an a clarinet.

Students through age 13:

1. Major and minor scales, and chromatic scale from low E. To high C.

2. A slow etude.

3. One movement from a sonata or concerto comparable in difficulty to the Sonata by Wanhal or the Concerto No.3 by Stamitz.

Students age 14 and older:

1. Major, minor and chromatic scales.

2. An etude comparable to those by C. Rose

3. One movement from a piece comparable in difficulty to the Concerto in a Major, K. 622, by Mozart; Concerto in F Minor, Op. 73, by Weber; sonatas by Bernstein, Saint-Sans, or Hindemith; or any of the 16 Grand Solos by Bonade.

A prospective student is judged relative to the individuals with whom he or she competes against on these exercises: during a very strong year for candidates, some highly talented students might be rejected. During a weaker year, as the school needs students to pay tuition, the most talented candidates will be selected, even though in a previous year they might not make 'the cut.' The candidates are graded against one another during a particular audition session.

Conclusion