Formative Assessment

This chapter explores the use of formative assessment in undergraduate medical education. In essence, formative assessment provides feedback to learners about their progress, whereas summative assessment measures the achievement of learning goals at the end of a course or programme of study. Assessment can be thought of as serving three main functions; assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment for quality assurance. Whilst summative assessment fits most neatly into the first category and formative assessment into the second, in a well-designed educational programme, there is considerable overlap such that the results of ongoing, formative assessment can be used both to measure student learning and to inform institutional quality assurance procedures. The chapter discusses definitions of formative and summative assessment; teacher and learner perspectives on formative assessment; the role of feedback in formative assessment; how formative assessment may be used within a curriculum; and examples of formative assessment in different teaching and learning environments.