Assessment methods and their impact on learning outcomes in education

Abstract

This article takes a look at the various ways through which assessment is conducted in education and how these methods have impacted the learning outcomes of students. There are two major approaches that have taken center stage: formative and summative assessment. While formative assessment is a continuous process, informing students of feedback that allows them to monitor, identify, and correct their mistakes during the learning process, summative assessment measures the knowledge attained at the end of a given academic period. Quantitative analysis of results from 300 students, through a mixed-methods approach, together with qualitative interviews with teachers, indicates that students who consistently go through formative assessments have an average gain in scores of 12%, while the average improvement for students who are majorly subjected to summative assessments is 6%. It is for this reason that such findings have stressed the need for integration of formative assessment as an integral strategy that could help improve learning outcomes, rather than having the dependence solely on summative assessments.