1. The evolution of effective teaching is another way to improve the formative assessment. The
assessment should not just be performed through observations and tests; they require careful
scrutiny of all the main components of teaching plan. The choice of tasks for classroom work
and home work is considered to be very important; however, they can serve its purposes and
aims well only if opportunities for pupils to communicate their understanding are built into the
planning.
Group discussions, observation of activities and marking of written work are all useful to provide
those opportunities to the pupils. Besides, it is also important to look at and listen to the talks,
writing and actions through which pupils display their understanding. The interactions between
pupils and tutors, giving effective feedbacks on tests, group works and homework are necessary
as it can give guidance on how to improve their understanding. Each pupil must be given help
and opportunity to work on the improvement.
Through the article, authors expresses their views that establishment of competitive market in
education can be harmful. They argue that there is a need of policy to which can focus more on
the inside of the ‘black box’ as so to explore the potential of assessment to raise standards
directly as integral part of each pupil’s learning work.
They are also of the views that several changes are needed to improve the assessment. The
promotion and support of change in classroom settings to raise standards are not merely enough
as it is not adequate on their own. The implementation of classroom-focused policy is needed to
improve the formative assessment. Several essential elements are also put into consideration in
order to bring change in formative assessment. These elements are: quality of teacher/pupil
interactions, the stimulus and help for pupils to take active responsibility for their own learning,
the particular help needed to move pupils out of the trap of ‘low achievement’ and development
of habits necessary for all students to come lifelong learners. Improvement in formative
assessment, which is within the reach of all teachers, can contribute substantially in raising
standards performances of all the students.
However, even with all of the recommendations and improvements, assessment improvements
are not and cannot be simple matter. There are no quicker ways to fix the complexity of
problems. If the substantial rewards promised by the research evidence were to be secured, each
2. teacher must find his or her own way of incorporating the lessons and ideas set out above into his
or her own patterns of classroom work and into the cultural norms and expectations of a
particular school community. Although, this could be successful, this process is long and slow
and requires much professional development and support. In order for learning to take place, a
valid type of formative assessment must be put in place. This study suggests that assessment, as
it occurs in schools, is far from merely technical problems, rather it is deeply social and personal.
It concluded with the argument that standards can be raised only by changes that are put into
direct effects by teachers and pupils in the classrooms.
