The
differences between assessment and evaluation are further broken down in these
documents. The dimensions of differences between assessment and
evaluation include: timing, focus of measurement, relationship between teacher
and student, the use of the findings, the modifiability of criteria, and
standards of measurement. The timing element was discussed before.
The formative assessment is done during the process of learning. The timing of
a summative evaluation is at the end of the learning or the final exam.
Some other qualities of assessment and evaluation in relation to the dimensions
of differences include the process oriented nature of assessment and the
product oriented nature of evaluation. This is in respect to the focus of
measurement dimension. In other words, the focus of measurement in
assessment is in the process of learning. The focus of measurement for
evaluation would be the final exam grade, which is a final product of the
learning. Therefore, assessments are flexible and open to modification
within the learning process. Evaluations are fixed because they document
achievement in relation to the learning objectives. These qualities
relate to the modifiability of criteria.
Both
assessment and evaluation are needed for a functional educational system. Assessment is needed to document the important
criteria within the learning process. Evaluation is necessary to
demonstrate the results of the learning. The documentary, Waiting for
Superman bases its judgements and suggestions for improvement of the
American educational system on statistics and data. Much of the
statistics used in proving their thesis were culled from data of summative
evaluations. The success and failure of public schools can be determined
by the results of summative testing. The results of the summative
evaluations point back to the formative process of learning. In order to raise the scores of summative
evaluations, more attention and skill must be applied to the formative process
of learning. Obviously, if a student is
noticed to not understand a necessary concept during the learning process
through formative assessment, more attention can be paid in supporting the
student. This should increase the students
chances of not falling behind and scoring higher on a summative
evaluation.Teachers and administrators have to be more careful and skillful in
using formative assessments in order to bring up the test scores used as
summative evaluations – which end up being summative statistics for schools,
school districts, states and nationwide.
When
I was teaching at a higher learning institution, results were very
important. My success as a professor information literacy was based
mainly on the achievements of my students on certain standards across the
curriculum. Therefore, if the students did well this reflected positively
upon me. If I were to become a classroom professor again I
would give more attention to formative assessment in the learning
process. This would ensure that less students fall behind and
that the students can score as high as possible on their summative exams -
which is how I was being evaluated.
