Monday, November 22, 2010

Formative and Summative: Clearing it up

When you receive the math test data, you can see that some of it is formative and some is summative.
Summative Assessments are given periodically to determine at a particular point in time what students know and do not know. Students should have mastered the material on this portion of the test.
Formative Assessment is part of the instructional process. When incorporated into classroom practice, it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made. This material has been taught, but the student is not expected to have mastered it yet.
Open Response is a measure of a student's mathematical reasoning process, how they approach a multi-step problem, and how well they can explain their thinking.
Scores: Two scores are reported, the first score includes all three sections, and the second score does not include the formative portion of the test. Students receive the higher grade of the two on their test.

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