Formative vs Summative testing - Final Blog!

From what I understand from the wikipedia articles, Formative testing is more useful for actual classroom use, whereas summative testing is used more by 3rd parties to evaluate overall scores and effectiveness of a classroom.

Personally, I think formative testing is much more useful for a teacher. It allows teachers to assess their students learning (instead of just a raw score like in standardized/summative testing) As a teacher, if I can see what my students are struggling or proficient at, I can modify my future lessons to be effective to the maximum amount of students in my class.

Web tools can be used to create these types of tests. Kids are tested up to their ears these days, so any way to make a test fun and exciting is fine by me. Sites like quizlet make a game out of it, which can facilitate learning and make it interesting for students.

Professional Organizations

Professional organizations provide members more security in their field. The organizations lobby for its members, and may have high ranking contacts in government. These organizations advocate for its members, and try to get policies passed the benefit their field.

I'm an elementary education major, so I have quite a few possibilities when it comes to my professional organizations. A big one is the LFA or Learning First Alliance. They are an organizations comprised of 16 member organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.

Another organization is Education for Change. They advocate for every child to have free public education.

The benefits of joining these groups greatly outweighs the costs. For some, you may have membership fees or other joining costs. But those costs pale in comparison to the effort and advocation that your organization does for you.