Formative Assessment: Benefits and Challenges

Czech Republic, ID Výzvy2016-419;    While summative assessment is a well-established and probably the most noticeable form of assessment in many education systems, there is ample evidence to suggest that formative assessment is potentially a powerful tool which promotes effective teaching and learning in general and increases scores on conventional external tests in particular. Still, according to the OECD reports on Slovakia and the Czech Republic, it is formative assessment that ranks amongst the greatest shortcomings of the two education systems and should be implemented in these countries on a large scale in the immediate future. As a result, the article aims to tackle the issue and looks at the nature of formative assessment. More specifically, the author is concerned with benefits and challenges of implementing formative assessment.

Key words: assessment, formative assessment, summative assessment, benefits, challenges, key strategies