Clarification between Formal, Informal, Summative, and Formative Assessments
Is it accurate to say that formal assessments are graded while informal assessments are ungraded?
Are all formative assessments ungraded and all summative assessments graded?
Can summative assessments be considered a special case of formative assessments since they also check for understanding?
Thanks!
Formative can be done whenever you would want, and summative at the end. Either one can be graded or not. An exit ticket is a formative evaluation that can be left ungraded, graded on completion, or graded on accuracy.
Formal assessments are typically larger, like exams, whereas informal assessments are smaller, like exit tickets. Asking the children to give you a thumbs up or down is a formative evaluation that is informal and not typically graded; it is now used as a check-in to determine understanding. Normally, the formal exams are meant to assess students’ understanding of a unit, section, etc.
Thanks. Can I conclude then that formal assessments are just a fancy way to say graded assessments?
I also thought about it: Can we say formal assessments are written assessments that you can keep for the record while informal assessments are unwritten assessments? Can informal assessments be graded? I would appreciate the feedback.
I can answer in a simple way that anything can be graded. It all depends on how you set up the class. In some cases, a class as a whole does so poorly that what you originally planned to be a summative assessment becomes a formative one and you spend a few more days working on the material.
Formal assessments don’t have to be written, language teachers use oral assessments as formal ones all the time.
I suppose the differences majorly depend on where you are.
Formal in layman’s language means it is important and informal means it is unimportant*. You should also note that both can be graded.
‘Important’ and ‘Unimportant’ are not the best words, but I can’t figure out what I mean, so to elaborate:
Important/formal:
Unimportant/informal:
Informal is important for the class teacher but from the student’s perspective, it’s nothing to stress about.
Nice simple explanation. But if possible you can answer this question to help me know better: Can you say that summative assessments are special cases of formative assessments as summatives are also assessing knowledge and help the instructor decide if more class time is needed to discuss the concept?
It is also important to note that summarized assessments can be several different things: essays, projects, tests, etc. A lot of teachers choose tests to be a summative assessment, but I prefer choice board options and let students choose from set categories to complete to show me if they understood the information we covered.