Teaching and Assessing Soft Skills - MASS - Measuring and ...

Formative and Summative Assessment
Assessments have been described as either formative (assessment as and for learning) or
summative (assessment of learning) and a clear demarcation has been drawn between
them. Formative assessment, where the purpose is to assist learning, is most useful to
individuals because they have time to make changes as a result of assessment, if necessary.
Summative assessment, designed as a basis for summarising and reporting achievement,
presents information on achievement in a concise way that is of use to potential employers.
Summative Assessment
There are certainly instances where the distinction is clear. In high stakes academic
assessments and in professional or trade licensing, summative assessment is the primary
and perhaps only interest. Before candidates can be admitted to professional practice,
licensing bodies must be assured that candidates have the knowledge and skills that are
regarded as necessary. These assessments are summative only; licensing bodies are
responsible primarily for ensuring that practitioners are competent.
Curtis (2010), reviewing literature, gave a categorization of summative assessment, based on
the criteria used. The categories and a short description for each one is given below.
Norm-referenced assessment
Students are assessed normatively, when they are compared against each other. That was
common practice in the past and continues to be used when assessment is conducted for
selection and sorting purposes. For these purposes, it is effective, as the absolute level of a
student’s performance is not at issue; rather, the purpose is to identify those students who
demonstrate superior performance compared with others.
Criterion-referenced assessment
In criterion-referenced assessment, criteria were specified for each assessed task and
students’ performances were compared with the criteria. Provided raters applied the criteria
consistently, their judgments of student performance should be objective (that it,
independent of the student or the rater or the particular set of tasks on which the
assessment occurred).
A clear advantage of criterion-referenced over norm-referenced assessment is that students
can be informed of the criteria that will be used in advance of undertaking the tasks. Thus
informed, students can direct their learning strategies at meeting criteria at the level of their
choice. If criteria for acceptable, commendable and outstanding work are specified, students
can allocate effort in order to attain their target level.
The criteria specified for a particular test may include a level of arbitrariness. For example in
a classroom the teacher sets the passing score. Deciding the passing score is subjective, not
objective. Sometimes the requirements for cut scores may be lowered as to allow more
students to pass the test. A small change in the cut score would not change the meaning of
the test but may greatly influence the number of student that passes the test (“Criterion-
and Standards- Referenced Tests | FairTest,” n.d.).
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