Assessment forms an integral part of the teaching and learning process. It supports teachers in identifying gaps and in extending and challenging their pupils, it provides parents with information on how their child is progressing and it supports school leaders in identifying trends and planning for the future.
Assessment can generally be split into two main types: formative assessment and summative assessment.
Formative assessment includes the day-to-day assessment that supports teachers in making adjustments to lessons to support the needs of all pupils. This will often include marking after a lesson, but could also include self or peer assessment as well as ‘on the fly’ assessment during a lesson to ensure all are making good or better progress.
Summative assessment can sometimes be considered a more formal form of assessment as it will often include some form of testing. The outcomes from summative assessments will always be used by teachers to guide future lessons. Scores from tests are also recorded by school leaders to aid the tracking of progress and attainment. The following summative assessments take place: