Assessment
Summative Assessment
Summative assessment, or assessment for learning, can only be completed once the student has made a tangible piece of work. The assessment rubric facilitates teachers in grading work. Summative assessment is evidential; it can help the teacher to understand what the student has learned. It also enables comparisons to be made between different students, groups and schools to differentiate learning needs. Its factual verification in the form of a grade is comprehensive for recording and reporting purposes to other teachers, parents, and, of course, the students themselves (Addisson and Burgess 2015 p. 97).
Formative Assessment
Students thrive on feedback; it communicates learning expectations and focuses student attention and effort. Feedback has been shown to improve student learning and develop self-belief within students that they will succeed (Black and Wiliam 1998 p. 10). Alike, group critique also aims to prove student merit. During critique, students are required to self-assess their work to classmates. The teacher can structure the discussion by asking students particular questions that will help them to meta-cognitively reflect on the process undertaken starting with lower end questions, asking students to recall the process, gradually building the complexity of the questions as per Bloom's Taxonomy, 1956, to the stage where students are evaluating their own work (Kyriacou 2009 p. 43). This type of ipsative assessment, when students begin to see their own development, provides a mutual sense of confidence among the group ending the project on a high note (Addison and Burgess 2015 p. 98). Formative assessment can also help the teacher throughout a scheme to understand what the student has learned . It provides a perspective for the teacher to plan the next lesson, enabling the teacher to critically reflect on whether re-teaching is required or if the next stage can be advanced.
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A detailed rubric helps to provide validity and fairness. It also makes assessing easily understood for other teachers who may use the scheme. In these self-designed rubrics, marks are allotted for both formatively and summatively. This type of on-going assessment helps the student focus and achieve, as often students are extrinsically motivated. I have found sharing the assessment criteria with students successful. It helps to guide them through the project.
This is an example for a rubric for the Sculpture Papier-maché Animal project. It includes a section for student planning, student knowledge and skills, student attitude as well as the finished piece of sculpture.
