{"id":2037,"date":"2025-03-18T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/?p=2037"},"modified":"2025-04-17T11:55:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T18:55:02","slug":"formative-assessment-is-not-for-grading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/2025\/formative-assessment-is-not-for-grading\/","title":{"rendered":"Formative assessment is not for grading"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There\u2019s something to love about the first pancake that comes off the grill in the morning. The first pancake usually comes out a little more lumpy, misshapen, or overdone than the rest. Yet there\u2019s no way to make our best pancake without learning from that first attempt. Our success in making pancakes builds from our first try to our last. Learning often works much the same way.<\/p>\n

The last word on a student\u2019s learning in a class\u2014that last pancake off the grill\u2014is their grade. Grades are a summative assessment, and like all summative assessments, they summarize the learning that has taken place over a given period of time. What does and doesn\u2019t get included in this summary motivates students\u2019 behavior and sends clear messages about how learning works and what learning is for.<\/p>\n

We tell students that their grades show how good they are at school, make them eligible for certain classes or extracurriculars, and can dictate their future course in life. It would be hard to find any single test that had more implications for students\u2019 day-to-day lives than what gets put on their report cards. Students naturally want their grades to look like the best and most complete representation of what they know and can do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Formative assessments<\/a> are, instead, a little more like that first pancake: part of the practice that gets us from the knowledge and skills we have to the knowledge and skills we need. We wouldn\u2019t judge an entire breakfast by the quality of that first pancake. But the breakfast can\u2019t happen without the sometimes messy process of getting it off the grill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Formative assessments\u00a0exist to monitor progress in the moment and motivate students to continue learning. They provide the opportunity for teachers to adjust their instruction to meet the emergent needs of their students and for students to understand the steps that lead toward mastering a skill. When done correctly, formative assessments can empower learners by giving them the tools they need to understand their learning, engage in meaningful practice, and make decisions about their own next steps.<\/p>\n

What grades shouldn\u2019t be<\/h2>\n

Because of these differences in purpose, it doesn\u2019t make sense to include formative assessments in a student\u2019s final grade; doing so unfairly punishes students while they\u2019re still growing. Formative assessments are incorporated directly into instruction, meaning they\u2019re meant as opportunities to make mistakes and understand barriers to growth. For many reasons, students can come into classrooms believing that mistakes aren\u2019t okay, or that their first try at something is a reflection of something fundamental about them. Incorporating formative assessment results directly into grades only feeds these misperceptions.<\/p>\n

Grades often try to put learning on a timeline, punishing students for submitting late work or preventing a student from retaking a quiz if their results were lower than anticipated. We summarize learning this way even knowing that students learn at different rates and that growth matters alongside final proficiency. It\u2019s not hard to understand why students are unwilling to invest the time and energy necessary for long-term academic growth when the system around them rewards short-term performance.<\/p>\n

By the same token, a student\u2019s behaviors shouldn\u2019t factor into their final grade, no matter how positive those behaviors are. Behavioral or participation grades can be dangerous for three reasons:<\/p>\n