Exploring Relations Between Formative and Summative Assessment

The chapter is characterising the two key purposes of assessment, formative and summative, and considering how they are related and can be brought together in developing a dependable approach to summative assessment using evidence collected and used in formative assessment. The third purpose of assessment, accountability, is dealt with as a special use of summative assessment. The range of approaches to using assessment formatively – to influence learning activities as they take place – and summatively, to record evidence of what has been learned at certain times, is discussed. Some examples from the ASSIST-ME project illustrate the variety of approaches to assessment and the overlapping relations between formative and summative use of assessment.