Informal vs Formal Assessments
Introduction
Assessment is a process of evaluating and measuring the learning progress, acquisition as well as the educational needs. In addition, it is a process of data collection and making decisions on how to progress the education. Both formal and informal assessments are used, and both involve observation of motor performance. The observation results from the assessment are analyzed to produce a conclusion. Assessment is important in that teachers gain the ability to understand the students’ needs and to implement effective teaching programs. Assessing or observing children are a critical element in altering the children’s behavior. On the same note, assessment is a valuable part of teaching and the techniques used play a significant role in ensuring Individualized Education Program (IEP). The important point is that assessment focuses on individuals and programs since these two determines what is needed to effectively progress the education. Assessment has a major goal of weighing up the student’s strength. In addition, assessment is not designed for teaching but rather it is a process of observing students’ learning ability and after assessment, it is easier to plan the needs of students. Thus, teachers should take care not to depress students but they should creat a starting point and provide instructions. Informal and formal assessments are techniques used and the purpose of this paper is to compare the strengths and weaknesses in these tools and make recommendation on when to apply a particular assessment in classroom.
Formal assessment
Formal assessment is a measuring method in which standardized tests are used in measuring performance (Harlen, 2007). Standardized tests mean that teachers measures the students’ performance against other students’ in the school or in other districts. Results are compared with other schools in district or national level and teachers are able to implement effective teaching programs to foster learning. For example, formal assessment is required in creating an Individualized Education Program after assessing gross motor performance. Various students with special need require a special help and through formal assessment, teachers understands their special needs and implement an effective programs to meet their needs (Harlen, 2007). The standardized measures create the conclusion based on learning advancement. During this instructional period, formal assessment tells whether students have improved or not. Using the formal grading system, teachers evaluate the student’s performance and help each student improve learning. In the process of formal assessment, teachers concentrate on intellectual ability which can be done through measuring motor skills, language skills and more. Other type of formal assessment include Criterion-Referenced Tests-teachers measures the ability of student to use instructional objectives (Radcliff, 2007). The latter is compared with classroom or district to analyze the intellectual level of the students. Program Tests, Teacher-Made Tests are used in formal assessment in measuring students’ retention. Last, formal assessment use Essay Tests where students are given a specific assignment to measure the content knowledge as well the writing ability (Radcliff, 2007).
Strengths
Formal assessment has a number of strengths as it has the ability to examine variables such as academic skills, cognitive abilities and more. Due to its intervening planning, formal assessment consigns executive skills problems and the evaluator can identify the skill weakness and implement the interventions which will address the weakness (Callahan, 2006). Other point is that the standardized tests play a big role in comparing the performance of students. The norms of standardized tests such as means of the score make the formal assessment to have strength. In this type of assessment, teachers get an insight on the students’ needs and the data helps to evaluate whether the low or high score have impacted the entire school. For example, students are given a test and their answers will determine academic progress of the school (Callahan, 2006).The test may also be given to evaluate the aptitude tests, for example in mathematics, musical talent and more. The overall result will assist in creating a future educational program. Accountability is strength with formal assessment. In this case, formal assessment conducts a research to understand the level of accountability in the school. Valuable tools and concrete data help the educators to evaluate specific subjects and create a program to ensure that students improve their skills. For example, teachers puts a great effort and spends extra time to ensure that when formal assessment will be done, students will not fail but rather they will achieve high grades (Callahan, 2006). Thus, it is accountability of the teacher to offer quality teaching. Strength in formal assessment is also apparent in arithmetic interpretation. Teachers are able to evaluate the performance and gains reliable and valid results.
Other strength with formal assessment is seen in the data-driven instruction which discloses proficiency levels. These means that data based on students performance and teacher’s ability will be available. This will help students to set quality goals and teachers will focus on the target areas so that students can achieve the set goals. There is the strength of response to intervention in formal assessment. Through evaluating students’ academic performance and analyzing the academic data from national levels, teachers will understand the level of intervention needed in national level as well as in the classroom. Formal assessment is also apparent since both teachers and student’ have the attitude of ‘Staying on Top’. Teachers usually ask questions based on their role as a teacher, how the students are performing compared with others in national level and more. Students also ask themselves questions regarding their level of their effort in learning, their academic performance compared with their friends and more. These question creates the need to set achievable goals and to wpork hard in order to ‘Stay of Top’. Finally, formal assessment has strength because of its Assessment Formats. This means that there are different forms of formal assessments such a essay, Criterion-Referenced Tests among many. These and others play a big role in ensuring students develop all types of skills such as problem-solving skills, language skills, writing skills and more.
Weaknesses
Formal test has a weakness due to overuse of standardized tests. For example, it is evident that many schools misuse standardized test by using test scores to define success, and teachers’ salary and job security is linked with standardized test performance (Burton & Miller, 1998). In addition, standardized has item bias and this negatively affects students especially the bilingual learners. Since educators focus on ‘typical curriculum’, students who need special education are not favored since their unique objectives may not be measures and thus the education program designed for bilingual will not be effective. Formal assessment is also flawed due to the multiple-choice items in various cases. Even though the multiple-choice items influence efficient scoring, responses provided in the formal vary with classroom response (Burton & Miller, 1998). For example, in classroom students may be taught about the word ‘production’ but when it comes in multiple-choices item, the word ‘production’ is changed to ‘syntheses. This alteration affects their performance. In addition, students respond with concrete terms but fail to interpret the response in communication contexts. The issue of multiple-choice item can also be related with the formal assessment weakness in Flawed Test Construction. Students misinterpret the questions since they have a limited knowledge on that specific question. This affects the performance since some students have intelligence while others have little knowledge (Burton & Miller, 1998). In addition, the single set of expectations which will determine the total score can affect the students’ academic performance due to anxiety and test conduction. This inconsistency affects the performance comparison. Formal assessment in some cases involves biased items which affect students’ academic performance especially the limited English proficient. Majority of the items are designed for language, middle-class majority and this is a problem to students who are minority (Burton & Miller, 1998).
Informal assessment
Informal assessment is a process of measuring students’ performance through observation, interviews, questionnaire, oral discussion, portfolios and more. In this case, standardized instruments are not used but teachers conduct informal assessment in either group or individual setting. Unlike formal assessment which deals with grade level standards, informal assessment evaluates the strengths and weakness not considering the age (Heritage & Stigler, 2010). For example, students may be given running records and they will be scored with the ability to read. Other example of informal assessment is asking questions after a teaching a certain topic. An important point to note is that informal assessment is important in that it has an immediate feedback and teachers improve teaching techniques with respect to the responses from students. On the same note, this form of assessment is associated with actual activities and teachers can identify visual impairments and assist such students to progress well in academic. Note that teachers face a big challenge in identifying visual impartments and implementing program to address the problem. However, informal assessment programs such as environmental assessments, diagnostic teaching and others named above play a significant role in providing bountiful information on each and every student. Radcliff (2007) asserts that the process of informal assessment is strengthened by self-reflection. This is because, with self-reflection, an instructor and students work together by giving responses and asking more questions. The instructor continues with process to ensure that goals are achieved. The author provides an important information by aspersing that, in order to have an effective informal observation, instructors need to be familiar with observed activities, they should focus on meaning and significant behaviors, should limit the observation and observe few skills until experience is gained and in every situation, they record the observed activities (Radcliff2, 007).
Strengths
Informal assessment has various strengths and one of the strength is authenticity. Informal assessment involves real activities, experiments and discussion. Real observation improves academic performance in that students interact within the environment and applies knowledge directly. For example, a teacher may use a questionnaire after classroom lesson (Dawson & Guare, 2010).Through oral questions; teachers will evaluate the learning ability as well as the level of concentration in each student. Other strength with informal assessment is apparent in its flexibility. This means that by using this form of assessment, teachers can change the teaching techniques and create new strategies which will meet the specific needs of students. Note that through informal assessment, a teacher will understand the skills of students and he or she will be accountable and find ways to fill the knowledge gap. Third, this process does not require any planning and students do feel stressed (Dawson & Guare, 2010). Unlike formal assessment which requires time to set exams, informal assessment involves monitoring and immediate feedback. It plays a great role in creating teaching strategies and measures students progress. Other point is that informal assessment involves the subject of interests and there is no connection with instructional time (Gullo, 2005). No comparing is required but rather the important thing is evaluating the strength of the standards. This process is ongoing and through interaction with external environment, students develop problem solving skills. This process does not focus on a set of skills but rather it measures the students’ ability in learning. Though standardized test are helpful, informal assessment provides deep understanding of the students more that formal assessment. For example, through portfolio, students express their views and point down the areas where they have difficulties (Gullo, 2005). With informal assessment, learning becomes meaningful because students develops academically and achieves their goals.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses arise due to the stereotypes when administering. In various cases, instructors tend to involve hidden prejudice especially to students who do not offer responses to the asked questions. This is common because, student may achieve high grades in formal assessment and face difficulties in informal assessment (Gullo, 2005). Having understood this issue, teacher should create an equal ground and understand the ability of each and every student in all education settings. Other weakness is that informal assessment does not deal with objectives. Note that when observing a specific student, teachers tend to draw conclusion from their personal opinion. For example, a teacher may observe social skill development from a student and record information (Gullo, 2005). Due to lack of number-driven data, personal opinion or positive or negatively mentality on the student may offer wrong interpretation. In such cases, the teacher is unable to detect the strength as well as weaknesses of the student. Unlike formal assessment, this process is flawed due to lack of validity and reliability (Gullo, 2005). These two play a significant role in measuring long-term goals and objectives of the instructional learning. In addition, reliability which is connected with scoring criteria play role in measuring the level of competency discrimination. Information assessment does not offer these variables and thus it is not reliable in academic progress (Gullo, 2005).
Applying formal assessment in classroom
As an instructor, I would apply formal assessment in classroom at the end of instructional unit. The purpose of is to evaluate the overall achievement and compare the result against benchmark. During grading process, formal assessment will help to understand the school improvement, the students’ level of learning and compare the performance (Harlen, 2007). It is important to measure the students’ knowledge and identify their strengths and weakness in a particular field. The important thing is to draw a conclusion using standardized measures. As an instructor, I believe that continuous assessment is a critical tool in measuring the level of knowledge (Harlen, 2007). Thus, at the end of every course, it is my responsibility to measure whether students have understood the course and whether they should move to the next course. I would need to have a positive impact on my teaching and thus I would ensure no further learning until a certain topic or unit has been understood well. Since I understand that parents as well as the entire school need to review the progress of the students, formal assessment after covering a specific unit will help in gathering and recording reports which parents and school can access at regular intervals. The evidence that students are performing or progressing well can only be achieved through regular test which are teacher-made tests, self-assessment or district-developed tests (Harlen, 2007). Generally, the purpose of using formal assessment in regular basis is to evaluate the learning progressing over a specific period of time.
Applying informal assessment in classroom
As an instructor, I would conduct informal assessment in classroom after completing very unit. I would use the method of group work and set question which I will ask the groups. In this case, I would ensure that each group provides responses to all questions verbally but not in a written form (Gullo, 2005). The purpose of this method is to analyze whither students have understood the topic and the specific areas which have problems. By listening to their feedback, I would identify their strengths and weakness, the areas which require improvement and implement new strategies to meet the selected areas. I understand there are areas which students might face difficulties but through informal assessment I might be in position to address the problems (Gullo, 2005). Group work is important because students will interact inform of dialogue and expand the learning. In addition, group work is also a method of promoting diversity where students will value the culture of others and share ideas in learning. I would not only expect feedbacks from them but I would also create a group work and give them the opportunity to ask questions. This will help in understanding the areas which need skill development (Gullo, 2005).
Conclusion
Formal and informal assessments are vital tools used in measuring students’ performance. Formal assessment such as midterm exam evaluates whether the students have understood a specific areas of study and their overall result are compared with other results from district or national level to gauge the performance. Through the various methods of formal assessment, students develop their knolwdge since their scores determines whether they have passed the course or not. In case of failure, students get the opportunity to review the course again in order to fully comprehend each and every component. On the other hand, Informal assessment is method of measuring performance without using standardized test. Methods search observation; questionnaire and more are used to measure the level of performance and to draw conclusion from certain topic. Though both have weaknesses associated with variables measured, they play a significant role in developing students’ academic and strategies of teaching.
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