Page 1 of 10
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 776
Formative and Summative Evaluation Techniques for
Improvement of Learning Process
BILAL AHMAD BAHT
Ph .D Research Scholar, School of Education and Behavioral Sciences, University of Kashmir, Kashmir
India
Email ID: - bhatbilal.scholar@kashmiruniversity.net
Contact number: - 9797904454, 9697417335
GH JEELANI BHAT
Ph .D Research Scholar, School of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Central University of Kashmir,
Kashmir India Email ID: - bhatjeelani72@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Evaluation is an educational program that aims to measure all three areas of cognitive, affective
and psychomotor learning. To reach a final conclusion, process as well as product is evaluated.
The evaluation results are always expressed in terms of the person being evaluated as per
behavioral changes. Formative assessment is a range of formal and informal assessment
procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and
learning activities to improve student attainment. It typically involves qualitative feedback for
both student and teacher that focus on the details of content and performance. Summative
evaluation refers to the assessment of participants where the focus is on the outcome of a
program. Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and
academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period typically at the end of
a project, unit, course, semester, program, or school year. The purpose of this paper is to
highlight the effect of formative and summative techniques of evaluation on the behavior of
students on one hand, also testifies the teaching of the teacher on the other. The present paper
has been written keeping in mind our evaluation system. This paper can be used to know the
strengths and weaknesses of our evaluation system and to take measures for further
improvement.
Page 2 of 10
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 777
Key words: - Formative technique of evaluation, Summative technique of evaluation, etc.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Successful schools engage students in all aspects of their learning. There are many strategies for
accomplishing this. One such strategy is student-led conferences. As a classroom teacher or administrator,
how do you ensure that the information shared in a student-led conference provides a balanced picture of
the student's strengths and weaknesses? The answer to this is to balance both summative and formative
classroom assessment practices and information gathering about student learning.
Assessment is a huge topic that encompasses everything from statewide accountability tests to district
benchmark or interim tests to everyday classroom tests. In order to grapple with what seems to be an over
use of testing, educators should frame their view of testing as assessment and that assessment is
information. The more information we have about students, the clearer the picture we have about
achievement or where gaps may occur. Formative and summative evaluation tells where a student is
standing on the way to his destination of learning, how much he is ahead or behind his classmates, to
what extent the behavioral changes occurred in him are acceptable, how far he can apply his present
acquired knowledge to his future life or learning situations, at what point he is facing any difficulty and
why and so on. Thus, evaluation here works like the diagnostic function of measurement. When a student
comes to know about the actual position of his achievement, he gets motivated to do better. Besides,
strengths and weaknesses of students becomes manifest through formative and summative evaluation and
a teacher can guide them accordingly. Once proper guidance is given to students by the teacher after
formative evaluation, teaching learning processes gets improved. Formative evaluation is a pre-planned
and systematic process which goes ahead keeping in view the pre-determined objectives. Formative and
summative evaluation process cannot be separated from each other and both go side by side.
1.1 RATIONL OF THE STUDY
As teachers gather information/data about student learning, several categories may be included. In order
to better understand student learning, teachers need to consider information about the products (paper or
otherwise) students create and tests they take, observational notes, and reflections on the communication
that occurs between teacher and student or among students. When a comprehensive assessment program
at the classroom level balances formative and summative student learning/achievement information, a
clear picture emerges of where a student is relative to learning targets and standards. Students should be
Page 3 of 10
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 778
able to articulate this shared information about their own learning. When this happens, student-led
conferences, a formative assessment strategy, are valid. The more we know about individual students as
they engage in the learning process, the better we can adjust instruction to ensure that all students
continue to achieve by moving forward in their learning. It provides sufficient information to teachers for
modifying teaching. One of the key components of engaging students in the assessment of their own
learning is providing them with descriptive feedback as they learn. In fact, research shows descriptive
feedback to be the most significant instructional strategy to move students forward in their learning.
Descriptive feedback provides students with an understanding of what they are doing well, links to
classroom learning, and gives specific input on how to reach the next step in the learning progression. In
other words, descriptive feedback is not a grade, a sticker, or "good job!" A significant body of research
indicates that such limited feedback does not lead to improved student learning.
There are many classroom instructional strategies that are part of the repertoire of good teaching. When
teachers use sound instructional practice for the purpose of gathering information on student learning,
they are applying this information in a formative way. In this sense, formative assessment is pedagogy
and clearly cannot be separated from instruction. It is what good teachers do. It's not teachers just
collecting information/data on student learning; it's what they do with the information they collect.
1.2 FORMATIVE TECHNIQUE OF EVALUATION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF
LEARNING PROCESS
The purpose of the formative assessment is to monitor the instructional process to determine whether or
not learning is taking place. It is designed to improve and enhance the learning process of teaching,
making it a continuous process in the school system. The tests diagnose both students and teachers '
weaknesses and therefore both of them can get the feedback from these tests. Students and teachers both
after identifying their difficulties change their behavior and remove these difficulties. Thus, function of
this evaluation is remedial in nature. The second function of this evaluation is that if evaluation finds
teaching learning process satisfactory, it motivates the teachers and students to work harder for better
results. Tanner (1972) has defined formative evaluation in the following words, “formative evaluation
refers to the use of tests and other evaluative procedures while the course and instructional programme is
in progress. “Both criterion referenced and norm referenced tests are used to take the students to the
mastery of the content. These tests are given in the following stages of learning.
At the end of each teaching unit.
