Standardised tests that demonstrate school accountability are used for pupil admissions;Assessment allows both instructor and student to monitor progress towards achieving learningobjectives, and can be approached in a variety of ways. Formative assessment refers to toolsthat identify misconceptions, struggles, and learning gaps along the way and assess how toclose those gaps. It includes effective tools for helping to shape learning, and can even bolsterstudents’ abilities to take ownership of their learning when they understand that the goal is toimprove learning, not apply final marks (Trumbull and Lash, 2013). It can include studentsassessing themselves, peers, or even the instructor, through writing, quizzes, conversation, andmore. In short, formative assessment occurs throughout a class or course, and seeks to improvestudent achievement of learning objectives through approaches that can support specificstudent needs (Theal and Franklin, 2010, p. 151).
